Training Without Hearing Protection

I don't know about other Department of the Army Police forces but with mine if you are on the range you wear hearing and eye protection. As one of the instructors I make sure our officers have both. We are considering doubleing up on the hearing protection (using both plugs and muffs). The only exception would be if you use electronic muffs. Fortunately both instructors bought their own electronic muffs.
 
I am already legaly deaf. I train with hearing protection to keep from loosing what little I have left. My hearing aids will dampen the sound of one shot. Though after that they do not do anything. I have not even tried to see if they work for the first shot. Ear plugs are cheap.

Hearing aids cost me $2000 :eek: if my hearing were better then I could have bought a very nice gun, or three with that money.
 
People keep bringing up "auditory exclusion" as though it's some sort of inherent protection. It isn't. Think of it more in the sense of "tunnel vision" of the ears.

In other words, you may not hear things when in fight or flight mode, because of diversion of blood to other areas. However, the nerves in your ears are still encountering the changes in air pressure that sound energy makes - they just aren't conveying the impulses to your brain in their normal manner.

What this means is your ears are still taking damage, you just don't notice it.

To add to the fun factor, past a certain point, nerve damage is cumulative, and often permanent.
 
None of the courses of fire I've shot in the military ever had us without hearing protection. As a matter of fact, we couldn't shoot without it. The only time we didn't have hearing protection was if it fell out by accident or someone took out their earplugs.

Shooting without earplugs doesn't prep you for combat, it makes you lose your hearing. No, you probably won't have hearing protection in a firefight. But until then, why rush the hearing loss? Use common sense, use eye and ear pro when you can.
 
Dumb, dumb, dumb. I have batteries in both ears now, and it stinks. Shooting, playing in bands, working with power tools and machinery, it all added on to a probable genetic predisposition for hearing loss and I needed hearing aids before I hit 50.

As MLeake says, auditory exclusion is a phenomenon that dampens the perception of the sound by the brain. The physical effect of the sound waves on the fine structures of the ear, where the real damage to the hearing apparatus occurs, is not abated. Think of it this way: If the sound reaches the ear, it causes damage, regardless of whether it goes the rest of the way in to the brain.

The feeling of isolation when conversation is going on around you and you are the only one who aren't a part of it is not something anyone should willingly inflict upon themselves.
 
I have no problem training for HD without plugs in my ears. Of course, I train with a Trident-9 on my HD gun.....:p

Already have a chronic ringing in my ears. No need to make it worse.
 
Future Darwin Award nominee

If he keeps doing that long enough, he won't have to worry about hearing intruders or game.
 
When I shoot at game on hunting trips my rifle/shotgun sounds like a dull boom. My ears don't even ring. I'm guessing its due to adrenaline. I would never shoot at the range without hearing protection and wouldn't worry about self defense.
 
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One of the guys made the comment that you should occasionally train by firing your weapon with no ear protection so you are prepared in a real life situation
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Just my opinion now but thats about as stupid as it gets. Damage ones hearing in case I might have to damage it in real life. No thanks I'll take my chances and IF that day ever happens most probably with ALL the EXCITEMENT:eek: at the time I may not even realize I heard a gun being shot:confused:. Can't say for sure because I have been blessed to date and not had to use my firearm in SD plus too much practice preparing for a possible future event may prevent me from hearing that event coming:eek:
 
I've said this before

A key part of my defense plan is to wear electronic shooter's muffs when the alarm (yappy dog) goes off. My hearing sucks to begin with, so the amplified muffs will pick up sounds without my having to fumble for my hearing aids; if (lord forbid) I do have to fire, at least they'll blank out the sound. Damage is damage whether you perceive it or not.
 
I am not sure, but I think this may be a record it appears that everyone is in agreement. Yes, this dude I was talking to is a “know it all” and he does get on my nerves, so I am glad to see that he is in the minority on this issue.
 
If you want to shoot without hearing protection that is your choice. Every range that I have been to in the military has required hearing protection. While in a war zone, I always had foamies in once we left the wire. I just turned the radio up a little bit more.
I do suffer from noise induced hearing loss and want to preserve what I have left for as long as I can. Pistol practice will always wear double hearing protection. Rifle, single protection when hunting and sighting in. Most practice comes from the 22 so single is fine.
Now, with that being said, you train like you fight, therefore, most shooters train wearing the foamies versus the skull crunchers. Reasoning is the skull crunchers will affect cheek weld and sight picture.
For those of you who do not wear hearing protection, the constant ringing in the ears is annoying (even more so when you go to bed), it never stops and it cannot be reversed.
 
I wear double hearing protection

I'm going to try switching to the flanged silicone ear plugs. I scrunch the foam up and stick it in the ear canal and apply pressure to it while they expand but twice I've had the foam ear plugs work their way out of my ear canal.
 
IMHO a bad idea.
In a real life situation they say you will not hear the shot as you would at the range.
Since I have never been in combat I will have to take others word on that, but while big game hunting my ears have never rang or been bothered by the sound of a 30-06.
Also I have heard pistol shots on the streets from time to time and they sound more like pop-pop-pop than loud booms.
So, to train without hearing protection for so called realism is, IMHO, just asking for health problems down the road.
 
One of the guys made the comment that you should occasionally train by firing your weapon with no ear protection so you are prepared in a real life situation.
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That is silly. You'll never hear the gun, let alone have it affect you.

I've shot 45s in a little tunnel bearly wide enough for my shoulders, and I was skinny (in them days), I don't recall hearing the gun.

I've shot them in buildings, never recall hearing the guns. Not just pistols, but a burst from a M-60.

Do you hunt, how many times have you thought about the nose of the gun going off while shooting at game?

What isn't silly, but is sad, is having your wife repeat everything she says 3 or 4 times. Looking to her to translate while you try to order in a resturant. The two most common things I say more then any thing else is "huh" and "what did she say".

The volume of my TV runs everyone out of the house and I still can't understand half of what is said.

The only two people I can have a conversation with is my wife and my granddaughter, and only when they are looking directly at me, mostly because I can read their lips as they talk.

Don't know why people turn their heads or cover their face when they talk but they do. Keep shooting without ear protection and you'll see what I mean.

Never ever practice or train with any firearms WITHOUT HEARING PROTECTION.

Quickest way to get me to beat my kids and grandkids is to catch them shooting without eye and ear protection.
 
One of the guys made the comment that you should occasionally train by firing your weapon with no ear protection so you are prepared in a real life situation.
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What?

(Hows often does the person say this).

Only if you want to damage you hearing.

A single exposure to some calibers can result in permanent damage.

I will risk it when lives are at stake, but only them

You'll never hear the gun, let alone have it affect you.
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Wrong.

Even if your brain blocks out the sound, the ear is still being damaged.
 
People are different.
Some people suffer immediate hearing damage when subjected to an unprotedted gunshot .. others suffer no damage at all.

I'm in the latter group. Many decades ago, when I was in the U.S.M.C. hearing/eye protection was unheard of. During two tours of duty I shot many thousands of 30-06 rounds from my M1 Garand without hearing protection.

Fifty some odd years later, my hearing is unaffected. In my 70's, my measured hearing is still as good as it was in my 20's.

During the ensuing decades I've shot hundreds of thousands of rounds and have never used hearing protection. My hearing is still unchanged.

I don't recommend shooting without protection. I demand that my children and grand-children use eye/hearing protection. I will not allow them to shoot without it. Do as I say, not as I do.

My personal life experience is that every human being is different ... unique.
Some experience hearing loss due to gunshots ... others do not.
 
I'll tell you spring chickens sumpthin, too. hearing loss isn't all there is to it. When you have tinnitis that is so bad that it can drown out traffic noises, and it keeps you awake at night, you can do one of two things. You can either go completely bananas and pray for death, or you can take valium until you don't hear it.

I'm lucky, I don't always notice it. Sometimes it quiets down, sometimes it turns up, and once in a while surges immensely.

At least it's tolerable. It's middle E. If it happened to be say, B sharp or F flat, it would be really hard to bear. Seriously.

I hear pretty well. As long as the singing in my ears doesn't drown it out.
 
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