Decibel difference between calibers

I shot a lot of 22s with our hearing protection. Fortunately for me my father one day bought me a "cool" set of Smith and Wesson hearing protection (so I would wear it) and I have to say that even today I have pretty good hearing.

Moral of the story when dealing with a kid make sure they will wear the hearing protection... I had a lot of off brand hearing protection as a kid but I hated them. It was when I got one that matched my gun that I would wear it... p.s. not all kids are as stupid as I was, fortunately I started wearing hearing protection before I got in to center fire.

p.s. my Favorited caliber is 357 magnum but I never shoot it with out hearing protection (Some day I might but I hope not) cause this my CCW gun. My bed side gun is a 12GA.
 
Sorry to be on the soap box but it's personal
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That it is, cougar, great post! You've described my situation exactly and it's too late for me also. I've been admonishing everyone to "double up" on hearing protection for 20 years now. Pity I didn't think to do that myself all those years ago.

Edit: For the OP, don't forget to read this, one of the best threads we've yet had here.
 
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damage

Great thread. That description of tinnitus - the computer fan, etc. - is the best that I have come upon.
You fellows are making me think a bit about checking my ears again. I have tinnitus in both ears. But.....every now and then, it stops. I'll be walking along and I'll notice that the ringer is off.....it's quiet. I have to stop and put my fingers into my ears to check. It doesn't last long and the last time was months ago but it does happen.

Pete
 
I had the tumor treated with Cyberknife, factionated stereotactic radiosurgery. The tumor is dead, but I have constant tinnitus in my left ear. Fortunately, I only notice it when I think about it, like now.
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Me too. It's been 16 years.
I lost all hearing on my left side over the course of about 2 days. Combined with the vertigo it made for an interesting weekend.

Loosing hearing on one side gives you an opportunity to judge the impact of sound waves on your ears. I've shot with protection only on my good side just out of curiosity and ended up with pain on my bad side. Just a shot or three was enough to tell me it wasn't a good idea even if I had no hearing to protect. The loudness of the sound had always overwhelmed the feeling whenever I shot unprotected before. Without the noise the pulse was quite noticeable when it impacted my ear drum.:eek:
I always wear muffs and usually double up protection on my good side.
 
I spent far too many years growing up shooting with out hearing protection. Now shooting anything without hearing protection really hurts my ears. Couple that with doing carpenter work for 30+ years. I have had Tinnitus for about 15yrs now.

I hate indoor ranges because of my ear problem. I hate being next to anyone shooting a 40 or a 357sig. Just hurts my ears even with ear muffs on.
 
I only shot a few shots total without ear protection, maybe 6, and all were .38 Spl. But when I was a kid, we used to do the "Whole roll of caps under a sledgehammer" deal and I remember the whistle after doing it. Then when I was 16, I discovered the joy of Top Fuel and Funny Cars at the drag races, and for about 17 years went to race after race without ear protection of any kind. I used to have really spectacular hearing. I could hear everyone's watch ticking away in a quiet room, and I always wondered why I could hear a dog whistle and nobody else seemed to be able to. Except the dogs, of course. I could also hear remote controls pulsating if I held them up to my ear (I won bets on that a couple of times being able to hear if a remote is working. Most of them emit a tone that most people can't hear. I can still hear some of them, but I used to be able to hear all of them)

Now at 54, I can "only" hear to 17K in my left ear (Probably due to my old dog screaming his head off into the car window and my left ear getting the "ricochet" ), and to about 22K in my right. I just went to the ear doctor for another issue (Random pain in my right ear, just more of the tube problem I've had all my life), and he said, "Wow, for a 54 year old guy, you have great hearing!". I disagreed, my hearing sucks compared to what it used to be like. I can't pick out voices like I used to be able to, and weaker women's voices are difficult to hear with any background noise. I get ****** asking people (Especially my mother, who has always had a weaker voice) to repeat themselves. I just wonder what it would be like without 17 years of nitro motor damage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWPItw6_UU&feature=related
 
I don't recall seeing anybody mention the length of the barrell. Does anyone think that might have someting to do with how loud a particular caliber might be?

My XD .45 Service Model with a 4 inch barrel firing ACP, is not as loud as my Texas Defender with a 3 inch barrel, firing a .45 Colt round. Is it the barrel length or the actual difference between the Colt and the ACP round?

A friend has a .410 Shotgun with a 28 inch barrel and I have the Texas Defender. My Defender with the 3 inch barrel, is WAAAAAY louder than his long barrel shotgun firing the exact same shell. (Federal 7 1/2 - 2 1/2 inch shell)

I know first hand about the Top Fuel / Funny Car thing. I spent 5 years working the starting line at a drag strip. Standing between them when they launch is indescrible. I actually had a filling rattle loose one day. BTW you can't stand between them within 6 feet or so without hearing protection. I WILL make your ears BLEED. Really.
 
If they are big they are loud. Your sensitive ears are not interested in decibels.
I had never shot my Redhawk .44 mag. without hearing protection. But one day I took it to my farm to test some new loads. Surprisingly, I didn't have any muffs for plugs with me, very unusual. But, I decided shooting four rounds wouldn't do any harm. :eek: Wrong. :(
The first round nearly browned by britches, I didn't realize the .44 mag. would be so loud. And my ears hurt and rang for two days. Very loud and very bad.
Wear your muffs or plugs all the time.
 
I, too, can empathize with many here, in regard to hearing loss/tinnitus...

I relate mine to the still of night with a million distant crickets chirping in unison. It hasn't subsided for about 8 years, now.

I find myself constantly struggling to understand simple speech. I hear it, but it's like listening to the teacher from Charlie Brown...wah-wahh-waaahhh-waaahhh-wah....waaahhh.
I find that when someone is looking right at me, I "hear" them much better, but it's just the lip-reading that I have been learning to do, without realizing it...
I have more to blame than just shooting without protection. Being in the music industry for a bunch of years, I've been around some very loud systems. I've owned a few that were built to compete in db Drags. Two vehicles with huge stereos, trying to out-do each other. I've been in the 150's and that lasts for a solid minute, not a split second.
I, too, thought that I would KNOW when it was a problem and I would quit doing it then...Stupid little punk...

Now I am paying the price, every waking minute of every stinking day.
PLEASE USE YOUR EAR PROTECTION....ALWAYS.
 
Tinnitus

You guys are correct about how bad it sucks......

I could never think of a good way to describe it to someone until after reading several of the posts here.

Now, the description probably won't mean anything to anyone not of my age group (55-60 range) but here goes.

It reminds me of the tone they used to run on the tv when it signed off at midnight and put the "test picture" and tone on until regular tv came back on @ 6 am.........

Yea, its really annoying when things are quiet like sitting in the treestand during deer season or when your wife or other soft spoken women are trying to communicate with me. Oh and its also annoying to have to wear electronic earmuffs when hunting but the Dr. says at this point even absorbing a single shot can cause additional damage.

I never shot all that much and I and the ent dr. attribute mine to too many years around factory machinery, lawnmower, and chainsaw engines long before anyone thought about hearing protection.
 
I compete in car audio competions(got the top 10 loudest truck in FL in my class)

Anyways, we use a special mic, well, its a SENSOR, but it measures SPL, theres a difference between audiable loudness, and sound pressure.

The mic we use is in the $700 range. The downfall is, it wont register a gunshot because it doesnt build pressure, like I stated before, its a sensor, not a microphone.

www.termpro.com is what we use.
 
One of the reasons the military prefers 5.56 for close quarter/interior work compared to larger calibers like 7.62, aside from recoil and flash, is the devastating affect of the sound on our guys' ears. No one wears hearing protection in combat, and 5.56 is bad enough. All the mall ninjas who fill these boards with talk about the 5.56 being inadequate for our troops and how we should use 7.62 or larger calibers make me laugh -- if they tried talking with Marines or Army infantry and asked if they wanted to bring 7.62 inside rooms or buildings they are clearing, they might get a little different perspective. My son is a Marine and just returned from southern Afghanistan, and he's already saying "huh?" when there is background noise in a room. Of course he used to pretend he couldn't hear us in high school too but I think that was for a different reason.
 
There is a mil standard for measuring muzzle report, it involves using a sound-level meter and microphone with a specific rise time spec and dynamic range of the microphone. The BK 2209 SLM and 4938 pistonphone is one such combination. The 4938 is capable of a dynamic range of 30 dB to 172 dB, per its spec sheet. The mil-spec location of the microphone is 1 meter to either side of the muzzle.

Using the mil-spec equipment and test method, we've tested unsupressed .223/556 at approx 162-165 dB depending on barrel length; .308 around 162-163 dB; .338LM 165-167 dB. .22LR fired from a pistol is typically around 150-152 dB.

It takes a difference of about 2-3 dB for a person to be able to notice a difference in loudness between two sounds.

tbacbighorn-2.jpg
 
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