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Thread: Deaf shooters' advantage?

  1. #1

    Deaf shooters' advantage?

    A few days ago at the range I noticed a man training a woman shooting an AR. He was wearing ear pro, she wasn't, and they were signing. They were both clearly enjoying themselves. She was hitting pretty good assuming it was her first session.

    That got me curious: how much of new-shooter-twitchiness is due to sound versus felt recoil? Have any instructors here trained many deaf shooters?

  2. #2
    Banned
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArgentFix View Post
    A few days ago at the range I noticed a man training a woman shooting an AR. He was wearing ear pro, she wasn't, and they were signing. They were both clearly enjoying themselves. She was hitting pretty good assuming it was her first session.

    That got me curious: how much of new-shooter-twitchiness is due to sound versus felt recoil? Have any instructors here trained many deaf shooters?
    I haven't trained any Deaf shooters but I have a bunch of Deaf friends. I can't say that it's uniform across the board but most of the ones that I know that shoot wear hearing protection because even if they're profoundly deaf and can't hear the shot they still feel the pressure wave and it hurts.

    I was at a friend's house one night and we were talking and he looked at me and he signed "My neighbor's messing with his motorcycle." And we went looked out the window and he was right. I could just barely hear the sound of the engine and I know he couldn't but something in the vibration and the pitch hurt his ears.

    So even though I haven't seen it I'm going to assume that Deaf people can develop a flinch.

  3. #3
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    Jan 2012
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    Georgia
    Promising research is being done that could someday lead to a way to reverse hearing loss and maybe even tinnitus in persons who have had their ears damaged by loud noise and other causes. I don't know if that will offer help to people who are deaf from birth or due to genetic factors. But I would recommend to deaf people that they wear hearing protection in case there is even a slight chance that limiting further damage could give them a possibility of being helped by a future breakthrough.

  4. #4
    Partial deafness here. Comments regarding pressure and vibration are spot on. I cannot hear my wife's voice sitting in the truck next to me, but I can hear my neighbor four doors down start his truck at 5 AM. I can feel four wheelers and outboard motors long before anyone else can hear them. Same with trains and choppers.

    Regarding shooting, I use plugs w/ electronic muffs. The pressure wave from guns, especially rifles shot from under a cover, is painful if I do not use both. Loud noise also aggravates my tinnitus, which so far is very minor compared to several friends of mine.
    Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by ArgentFix View Post
    how much of new-shooter-twitchiness is due to sound versus felt recoil?
    A lot. A whole lot. I wear plugs and muffs, whether outdoors or indoors. I want to do every little thing I can that may keep the flinch away, even though I've been shooting a long time.

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