Shooting Guns: Best Hearing Protection?

[ConnorSmith]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

 

[Jack Straw]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

I think custom modeled ear plugs you get done from an audiologist would be best. I'm not too sure about filter or no filter, but the audiologist should know the answer.

Consider yourself incredibly lucky that your tinnitus is fading over time, but take this as a lesson that you seriously need to protect your ears going forward when doing something like that.

 

[Tex]

I shoot quite a bit and just ordered some more of these after posting about them on another thread recently. In that thread I mentioned that I had seen them for less cost--wrong. I didn't realize it was a 3-pack. This is the best deal I've seen yet. Anyway, I've been using these for over ten years. I have never been able to make the foam plugs work.

And when shooting, particularly the louder calibers, I wear muffs over these. You can't hear anyone else you are shooting with, so be careful. I doubt seriously any range officer would like somebody on their range wearing this double protection and not being able to hear any commands. If you are in law enforcement you probably know that most shooters now wear electronic muffs that allow you to communicate, but have protection when a gun is fired.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-90716-800...pID=51xtXKgblFL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Bill Bauer]

To find noise reduction due to dual protection (muffs + plugs), you have to take the noise reduction of the device with the highest NRR, and add 5 dB. You are right to rely on Peltor X5A. This means that it doesn't Really matter what earplugs you use. The total noise reduction will increase by about 5 dB, as long as you wear some reasonable earplugs under your muffs. The combination X5A + 1100 3M plugs seems great to me.

If you are allowed to choose the gun that you will be firing, you can look into finding a gun that is the quietest. You could also find out whether it would be ok for you to use a silencer. I was thinking about something like the suppressor in the video below in mind.

 

[coffee_girl]

 

[Gman]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

Can you use a suppressor too?

 

[derpytia]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

Molded ones without a filter might be your best bet. You want to exclude as much noise as possible.

 

[Julien87]

I think I would use foam earplugs + earmuffs. I have molded ones too, but the one time I put earmuffs over them, the contact with the muffs and the pressure applied on my ears made the plugs not seal my ears properly.

 

[Wolfears]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

As long as you stay away from indoor ranges, you should be good with anything over 30 dB reduction.

 

[hopedeferred]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

Hi Connor,

Any update you can share?

Thanks,
HD

 

[ConnorSmith]

Hi Connor,

Any update you can share?

Thanks,
HD

Hello everyone!
In the first month i could hear my T everytime. even when i was driving or watching TV, it is difficult to rate the intensity, but was so annoyng.
in the fourth day after my shooting accident I went to ENT and gave me 60mg of Deflazacort and 3 pills of Piraceptam at day during 8 days.
i was hearing loss of 10 db at 4000hz. at the end of the month my T was the same, but my 4000hz gets better like before in th audiogram.
In the second month i had a MRI of the ears whithout any protection, was my first MRI and i didnt know how loud it was. Fortunately the duration was very short, i didnt get variations in the left ear, but some days after my right ear start to sound. at the first moments was an electrical sensation not continuous, then gets in a hight frecuency tone.
The next day of the MRI i went to Urgency Services of the hospital, and the doctor says that i had 20 db loss at 2000hz in left ear, no loss in right ear and gave me the same treatment of Cortico-Steroid.
after some days i start to get Hyperacusys during five days in right ear (the good ear), then it converts in reactive T, and finally H and reactive T gets off.
The months after, T stabilizes and get very slowly get down. The first nights i cannot sleep normally, waking up every tho or three hours i used to sleep with a fan or some relaxing sounds, at the third month i start to sleep with any masking sound. I tried to make my life as normal as i can with the excepcion of loud noise activities, I used to work as patrol officer, after that i work in the office for the time that was necessary to get better.
I am convinced that stress have a important roll in Tinnitus. In the months before my accident i was travelling so much before i work at 500 km of my home, taking 12 planes at month, and had many stressing situations in my work. I had to say thas was not the first time that i hear a shoot without proteccion and had no problems before, my father was in the army many years ago, at that moment they never use any protection and he never had T, so it seem that there are a personal pre-disposition in that all.
At this moment my T went better, and with the excepcion of an influence some weeks before it was lower.
now, near six months later i have high frecuency tone and a very slow morse code in left ear and high tone in the right. The tho high tones only hears in silent rooms, and the morse if i serch very deep using muffs. in the mornings all was better, sleep have a inpact in the sonority for me.
actually i dont get any supplement, i tried ginko biloba, magnesium and vitamins with no results.
I hope that things going well for all of you, take care of yourselfs.

 

[Arseny]

Hello everyone!
In the first month i could hear my T everytime. even when i was driving or watching TV, it is difficult to rate the intensity, but was so annoyng.
in the fourth day after my shooting accident I went to ENT and gave me 60mg of Deflazacort and 3 pills of Piraceptam at day during 8 days.
i was hearing loss of 10 db at 4000hz. at the end of the month my T was the same, but my 4000hz gets better like before in th audiogram.
In the second month i had a MRI of the ears whithout any protection, was my first MRI and i didnt know how loud it was. Fortunately the duration was very short, i didnt get variations in the left ear, but some days after my right ear start to sound. at the first moments was an electrical sensation not continuous, then gets in a hight frecuency tone.
The next day of the MRI i went to Urgency Services of the hospital, and the doctor says that i had 20 db loss at 2000hz in left ear, no loss in right ear and gave me the same treatment of Cortico-Steroid.
after some days i start to get Hyperacusys during five days in right ear (the good ear), then it converts in reactive T, and finally H and reactive T gets off.
The months after, T stabilizes and get very slowly get down. The first nights i cannot sleep normally, waking up every tho or three hours i used to sleep with a fan or some relaxing sounds, at the third month i start to sleep with any masking sound. I tried to make my life as normal as i can with the excepcion of loud noise activities, I used to work as patrol officer, after that i work in the office for the time that was necessary to get better.
I am convinced that stress have a important roll in Tinnitus. In the months before my accident i was travelling so much before i work at 500 km of my home, taking 12 planes at month, and had many stressing situations in my work. I had to say thas was not the first time that i hear a shoot without proteccion and had no problems before, my father was in the army many years ago, at that moment they never use any protection and he never had T, so it seem that there are a personal pre-disposition in that all.
At this moment my T went better, and with the excepcion of an influence some weeks before it was lower.
now, near six months later i have high frecuency tone and a very slow morse code in left ear and high tone in the right. The tho high tones only hears in silent rooms, and the morse if i serch very deep using muffs. in the mornings all was better, sleep have a inpact in the sonority for me.
actually i dont get any supplement, i tried ginko biloba, magnesium and vitamins with no results.
I hope that things going well for all of you, take care of yourselfs.

I had a significant increase in tinnitus and got hyperacusis and TTTS from a 15 minute brain MRI with earplugs and earmuffs.

I don't know what's up with doctors stuffing everyone in MRIs...

 

[AZeurotuner]

Hello! I have had tinnitus since August, when I shot four rounds with my rifle without protection.

Now the tinnitus seems to get better slowly, and I will give my ears some rest from loud noise.

In one year I have to shoot another time because my work in law enforcement.

I have some questions to protect my ears with double protection; plugs and muffs.

Which plugs are most protective?

• Molded ones with frequency filters
• Molded ones without any filter
• 3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

For muffs I have no doubt, I will pick Peltor X5A with 37 dB of SNR.

I appreciate your answers, thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

Peltor Blasts™ foam ear plugs (these are the best plugs, period, I have tried them all) with Peltor X5a's over them. Make sure they're DEEPLY inserted, you'll know when they're in correctly when you can barely hear the person talking next to you. Foam plugs will absolutely outperform silicone customs, they are simply better at attenuating sound. Folks that say their customs work better than foams are not inserting them correctly.

Follow the above and you should be okay, I'd also recommend taking oto-protective supplements before and after you qualify, as well as some lllt sessions afterwards.

Good luck,
Ross

 

[Bill Bauer]

3M 1100 37 dB SNR?

I believe 3M 1100 have NRR of 29 dB.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

Peltor Blasts™ foam ear plugs (these are the best plugs, period, I have tried them all) with Peltor X5a's over them. Make sure they're DEEPLY inserted, you'll know when they're in correctly when you can barely hear the person talking next to you. Foam plugs will absolutely outperform silicone customs, they are simply better at attenuating sound. Folks that say their customs work better than foams are not inserting them correctly.

Follow the above and you should be okay, I'd also recommend taking oto-protective supplements before and after you qualify, as well as some lllt sessions afterwards.

Good luck,
Ross

My silicon plugs have a NRR of 33.
The foam is 32.

If your silicon ones don't seem to work as good you may want to get them remade.

Customs will always have less occlusion as well.

 

[AZeurotuner]

My silicon plugs have a NRR of 33.
The foam is 32.

If your silicon ones don't seem to work as good you may want to get them remade.

Customs will always have less occlusion as well.

Are you sure? I've never come across customs that were rated that high, the reason that foam is more effective is because of the tiny air pockets inside of it. That's why sound proof windows have a huge air gap between the two panes, air is your friend when it comes to blocking sound.

Highest I could find on this site (which sells many types of customs) is 29npr...

https://www.earplugstore.com/jbmacunorepl.html

 

[Tom Cnyc]

Interesting. I'm 100% sure my audiologist told me 33 dB. That said, I can't find the full cap to purchase and prove it. What I did find is these. Note how the NRR is 29 but average attenuation is actually 40! Foam sites say their average attenuation is (NRR - 7)/2. I think this comes down to it actually fits.

https://www.earplugstore.com/westone-high-noise-40.html

Similarly, these lab tests show foam, properly inserted, coming in at roughly 20db of attenuation.
https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/making-the-case-for-custom-12959

Unfortunately that study did not use full protection customs for comparison's sake. I actually plan on buyin another pair of customs within a few weeks b/c if I lose mine they take forever to arrive. I'll ask when I'm there and update this thread.

 

[AZeurotuner]

Interesting. I'm 100% sure my audiologist told me 33 dB. That said, I can't find the full cap to purchase and prove it. What I did find is these. Note how the NRR is 29 but average attenuation is actually 40! Foam sites say their average attenuation is (NRR - 7)/2. I think this comes down to it actually fits.

https://www.earplugstore.com/westone-high-noise-40.html

Similarly, these lab tests show foam, properly inserted, coming in at roughly 20db of attenuation.
https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/making-the-case-for-custom-12959

Unfortunately that study did not use full protection customs for comparison's sake. I actually plan on buyin another pair of customs within a few weeks b/c if I lose mine they take forever to arrive. I'll ask when I'm there and update this thread.

I don't think you're going to find many audiologists or websites affiliated with them that are going to concede that foam has any advantages over customs, they make a lot of money selling custom molds. Also, they never list the brand of foam or npr rating that was used, which is highly suspect, and indicative of a "designed to fail" study.

I don't think your audiologist was being truthful with you regarding the npr of your plugs. I have never come across 33 npr customs, silicone and acrylic just aren't as effective at attenuation as foam. Notice that soundproofing insulation is typically made out of porus materials, there's a reason for that.

As for fit, this is extremely important, my foams work very poorly compared to my customs when inserted incorrectly, but when placed deep into the canal, they perform better, especially with low frequences (loud engines) which is primarily what I use them for.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

I don't think you're going to find many audiologists or websites affiliated with them that are going to concede that foam has any advantages over customs, they make a lot of money selling custom molds. Also, they never list the brand of foam or npr rating that was used, which is highly suspect, and indicative of a "designed to fail" study.

I don't think your audiologist was being truthful with you regarding the npr of your plugs. I have never come across 33 npr customs, silicone and acrylic just aren't as effective at attenuation as foam. Notice that soundproofing insulation is typically made out of porus materials, there's a reason for that.

As for fit, this is extremely important, my foams work very poorly compared to my customs when inserted incorrectly, but when placed deep into the canal, they perform better, especially with low frequences (loud engines) which is primarily what I use them for.

next time I hit a show I'll buy some quality foam earplugs and do a side by side. I've got nothing planned for a few months but I'll do it for science.

The molds to me were more enticing b/c they have 15db filters, which I love for screechy train rides and bars - where I plan on talking with others. I also like the comfort of knowing that they're inserted properly. I still recommend them to just about anyone who will listen to me. I finally got my wife to start wearing them at shows thankfully.

 

[AZeurotuner]

next time I hit a show I'll buy some quality foam earplugs and do a side by side. I've got nothing planned for a few months but I'll do it for science.

The molds to me were more enticing b/c they have 15db filters, which I love for screechy train rides and bars - where I plan on talking with others. I also like the comfort of knowing that they're inserted properly. I still recommend them to just about anyone who will listen to me. I finally got my wife to start wearing them at shows thankfully.

Customs are definitely better for most applications, comfort, ease of use, and the ability to decipher speech and such is a huge plus. But when I absolutely need ultimate protection, I throw on the Peltor Blasts™, they cut low frequencies better than my X5a's do. Give 'em a try and let us know how they work for you.

 

[Marko Nakovski]

I would just like to give my advice to anyone who wants to shoot with gun, don't do it... I developed severe hyperacusis even with having earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. If one must shoot or likes to shoot it's better outdoors, but still there is no guarantee that the tinnitus will not get worse or that you won't develop hyperacusis.

But indoors, don't consider it at all, you can regret it ...