Warm weather hearing protecrion

[NickS]

Surefire's "in ear jobbies" suck ... don't bother.

[That Guy]

Surefire in ear jobbies.

I spent a long time wanting to try those. However, being a filthy furriner, nobody wanted to sell them to me. I guess the US government was scared of what someone like me could do with a pair of ear plugs? [emoji14] Anyways, after a long time I finally got a pair of Surefire plugs and wore them to a shotgun match. At first, they worked great. But on one stage the damn things started to come out of my ears while I was shooting the stage. I noticed the sound of the gunshots was weird, but since it didn't seem any louder to me I thought it was just reflected from the barricades. Until after the stage I realize how far out the plugs had moved and how little they muffled noise. I still get a ringing in my left ear occasionally because of that one time.

The most expensive pair of ear plugs I have ever bought and they went straight to the trash after that day. I have to say, in my experience regular ear plugs are clearly superior to the Surefire product.

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[voodoo_man]

Surefire's "in ear jobbies" suck ... don't bother.

That's like, your opinion, man.

I've worn just them a few times and they worked well enough, the trick is find the right size and follow instructions. Also some people have different sized ear holes, or rather, require different sized plugs on each side...

[Clusterfrack]

Check out Silynx. Pricey, but excellent ear pro.

[HCM]

Unless you want to learn to like tinnitus man up and wear plugs and muffs. I'm trying to save what's left of my hearing after four decades of shooting, so I wear both even in Florida summers. I met an audiologist over the holidays and it's scary what can happen if you neglect hearing loss once you have it. So really, really try to avoid damaging your hearing.

This ^^^. bone conduction of sound is a thing. Plugs are not a replacement for over ear / muff type protection if you shooter regularly in or outdoors.

[Hambo]

This ^^^. bone conduction of sound is a thing. Plugs are not a replacement for over ear / muff type protection if you shooter regularly in or outdoors.

That's what the audiologists told me a long time ago. For a long time I wore both plugs and muffs indoors or on covered lines, and just plugs in the open. Until I needed to start wearing electronics so I could hear the buzzer at schools or competition.

[JTQ]

bone conduction of sound is a thing.

See Doug Koenig using a motorcycle helmet for long range shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=pQS50-VeWgc

[JTQ]

Foam plugs do work very effectively, but ... you must know how to insert them into you ears properly. The very best on the market are the Howard Leight 33dB plugs, these:

BUT..you must insert them properly. First, you have to roll them on your hand into a tight little cylinder. Use one hand to pull up on your ear to fully open the ear cannel, then place them inside, nice and deep, and hold them in place and allow them to expand. This takes a bit of time, but well worth it.

voodoo_man wrote,
Surefire in ear jobbies.

...As long as you get the right size and cover the holes properly you'll be fine.

Properly inserting foam plugs, and buying the correct size of off the shelf plugs are both really big deals. Often figuring this out on your own is not easy.

If you have real concerns, see an audiologist. They can help you, whether you want to get custom plugs, or just guidance on what off the shelf plugs to get and how to use them.

[peterb]

Properly inserting foam plugs, and buying the correct size of off the shelf plugs are both really big deals. Often figuring this out on your own is not easy.

How to insert: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SPNPZJingZA

If you can see a lot of the plug ouside the ear canal, it's probably not inserted correctly or is a bad fit.

Fit and use problems with hearing protection are so common that OSHA and NIOSH recommend dividing the NRR in half to come up with a more realistic real-world attenuation value. This is after subtracting 7 for the dBA correction value.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/9...rating-nrr.pdf

Glasses breaking the seal of muffs is another common reason for reduced protection. I've used these seals or homemade versions to help with that problem:

http://www.davidclark.com/store/Prod...x?productID=62

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Shooting in TX heat - I still wear muffs and plugs. The inferno on my body makes the amount of coverage by the ear protection trivial. Drink tons of hydration. It was hot yesterday at the carbine match and still wore them with a heat wicking Columbia long sleeve shirt. I like the sun protection.

I've heard the bone conduction risk that HCM discusses. Esp. if you're hearing 12 folks shoot ARs all morning.