Zukiphile, I agree. The level of hearing loss one can expect from a suppressed .22 is extremely low and would require a lot of shooting to be noticable. Much of what we do in our normal lives probably causes more danger to our hearing. However, I'm simply providing context to the claims of silencers being "hearing safe".
The quietest .22 silencers using a rifle with subsonic .22 LR ammo meter in the 115 dB range. That's in the same dB range as a jackhammer or a chainsaw, and that's in a range that can easily damage your hearing pretty quickly. However, the saving grace is that the sound of the shot is very quick, so it would take a lot of shots to add up to noticable hearing loss.
I wouldn't be shocked at all; I shoot suppressed .22 all the time. And when I use my Octane 9 on a .22 it's quieter than any .22 silencer I've ever heard. And no, clapping your hands, listening to a phone call, or running a vacuum cleaner isn't anywhere near as loud as a suppressed subsonic .22. There's no .22 silencer that can get the sound down below 110 dB, and most can't get it down below 115 dB. Those other sounds you mentioned don't even come close to 110 dB.RCT said:I have to disagree with the talk about 22s.
We have a shop demo bolt action .22 that we fire suppressed with subsonic ammo and you simply would be shocked as to how quiet it is. Clapping your hands, listing to a phone call on your mobile phone or operating your vacuum cleaner is much louder.