Electronic Hearing Protection, Some Health-Related Thoughts (long)

[slickpuppy]

johnbt,
That disclaimer is not on my Wolf Ears.

Just a WAG here, but I would think that gun fire is across the frequency spectrum, including audible and inaudible frequencies. Also, that would indicate the muff response time to impulse noise is a bit lacking.

I am not an audiologist or physician so I can not answer the most logical question of "What is the typical response time of the human ear to noise/impulse noise?"

I would hope that manufacturers marketing their devices for gun monkeys would test using noise generators duplicating gun fire instead of white noise generators or some such.

Of course hope and them doing are unknown to me. The testing techniques are really the most important thing to analyze to see if they truly match real world conditions.

 

[Tman]

Thanks for double plug advice

I just started adding ear plugs to my Peltor 7s electronic muffs because of this thread. I noticed a significant decrease in the intensity of gunfire at the indoor range, yet with my muffs turned up a little higher, I still was easily able to hear the range master. Combo of ear plugs plus electronic muffs gets a definite thumbs up from me. Wish I had done it sooner.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Tman, good for you! That really is the best way to go in order to be able to hear what is going on around you without sacrificing your hearing.

 

[part swede]

I wear custom-molded plugs I bought at a hearing aid center for $50. One day they took rubber casts of my ear canals and two weeks later I picked them up. I also wear muffs and a polyethylene pith helmet which clamps the muffs down hard, and (in theory) helps deflect some noise from my skull. With all this, indoor range fire still sounds like a hammer hitting an anvil nearby. So does a high-power rifle at an outdoor range. But it's not painful like an earlier time when I was wearing foam plugs and muffs near someone shooting .40's.