If there is a single biggest LIE that movies and TV portray about shooting, it is that the sound of gunfire (particularly in and enclosed space) has no effect on the shooter or those around them.
ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE!!!!!!
I've had a rifle fired with the muzzle a few inches from my ear. I've been in the back seat of a 67 Mustang when the passenger fired a .357 (gun outside the window, still physically painful!). I lived for some months a few dozen yards behind the firing line of 4, 5, and 6 inch guns (bore diameter, NOT barrel length!)
I had a documented high frequency hearing loss when I separated from the Army. I spend 30+ years working having yearly physicals with hearing tests. I was in the Hearing Conservation program, which included special extra tests.
I was well versed in industrial noise protocols and OSHA standards. I know a little bit about this stuff, from personal and industrial experience.
Gunfire damages unprotected hearing. Its that simple. BUT they damage is sneaky. At first the permanent loss is outside the range one usually notices. As is continues, it reaches the "normal" range and you notice it, then.
Understand that there is temporary damage, and permanent damage. You recover from the temporay deafness, but you never recover completely. Each time you get exposed, when it comes back, it doesn't come all the way back.
I do wonder why in the hearing tests they use the headphones that they do...
You know the ones, look like from the 1950s, solid rubber earpads (not foam) that squash your ear against your head rather than surround it.
When I put on the headphones for my computer, or stereo, with the volume off, they are basically comfortable, and I hear no sound. With the headphones in the hearing test booths, they are uncomfortable, and as soon as I put them on, my ears start ringing, and the tone is exactly the same as one of the test tones!!! WHY do they do that? (use those headphones, I mean, you would think there would be something better...)
If legal in your area, jump thru the legal hoops and put a can on your HD pistol.
While this does make good sense, and in some parts of the world, I understand suppressors are required for hunting, in the US I wish you luck with a jury.
DO we have any actual documented cases of defensive shootings with a "can" on the gun? How did that play out in court?
In this day and age of fear, if using a handload is a bad idea, because of what the prosecutor will make you look like, what kind of a sick killer will they portray you as if you use a SILENCER!!!???
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it wasn't self defense, it was MURDER! The defendant used a SILENCER so he wouldn't be caught!!!!" I think something like this would be the least to expect.
By all means, use the can, and be our test case. We desperately need to change the public perception of supressors from assassin's tool to what they really are, safety devices for our hearing. Good Luck, and we'll likely see you in 15-20.....less with good behavior, maybe...