hearing aids

I'm new to the hearing aid thing,,,

I'm new to the hearing aid thing,,,
But I take the advice given by my audiologist.

She said I should remove them,,,
AND,,,
Turn them off when I'm at the range.

She's been in business over 20 years,,,
And told me that she has seen several hearing aids damaged from the loud "impulse".

Since I paid dang near $5,000 for the things,,,
I'm taking her advice and won't wear mine while shooting.

I take them off and open the battery door when at the range.

Aarond

.
 
I take mine out because covering my ear can make them whistle the same as I can make them whistle by holding my hand over the ear, causing feedback.
 
> modern hearing aids usually have some sort of a cut-off where they stop amplifying.

I talked with my audiologist about that. He reprogrammed mine with a sharp cutoff which helps a lot. I'm half-deaf, but I'm sensitive to loud noises... sigh.
 
Can do either.
But I prefer to remove my in the ear hearing aid and it leave home. Just a pair of muffs covering my ears when I'm seated at a shooting Bench.
 
The problem with wearing hearing aides that are designed for everyday and constant use is really that they're very often not "occluded". That is, they have an "air hole" or vent that prevents what people describe as "echo" and makes sounds seem more natural. That air hole also lets the gun shot blast in.

A few other points:

1)The NRR rating on hearing protection is an average only. Some frequencies are a lot higher, some lower.

2)The decibel scale is logarithmic. Basically, every 10 dB is twice as "loud". So, a reduction of 29 dB isn't exactly small. 140dB is nearly 1,000 times louder than 111dB. (794 times, if I'm doing the math right).

3)As indicated, exposure time matters. A gunshot lasts 3-5 milliseconds. OSHA indicates 56 seconds daily exposure time at 112dB. At 4 milliseconds, 56 seconds exposure would require 14,000 gunshots.

4)You're still better off getting the highest NRR you cab get.
 
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