Practice with no hearing protection?


Do you eve purposefullyr practice without hearing protection?


  • Total voters
    79
I have purposefully shot a few magazines during a session only a couple times to remind myself of how loud it really is. Should I plan on doing it more often? Or is it not worth the damage to my ears, and I will be able to handle the noise if the time ever curses me?

...I'm sorry, could you repeat that a bit louder, maybe a lot louder?

Good grief, man, are you serious? To quote my kid's texting: "OMG".

I fired a .38 (S&W .357 seven shooter but had .38's in it) once without hearing protection out in a field. I did in once. That was enough for me to learn not to ever do that again, at least not just for shots-n-grins.

Insofar as being able to handle it if you ever needed to shoot without "ears", well, Mr. Adrenaline will likely not let feel anything or hear much of anything painful during the exchange. Then again, those who have been there and done that could elaborate.
 

If you don't wear hearing protection while you practice you won't be bothered by the noise when you are attacked. That's because you will be deaf. I have a ringing in my ear from shooting 12 gauge 3 inch magnums while Goose hunting. That was 40 years ago and my ear still rings and shows high frequency hearing loss.
 
never fire your guns without hearing protection ever. It isn't worth loosing your hearing for a supposed training technique. If you ever get into a gun fight, and I hope you don't, you will experience auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, loss of fine motor control, time will slow down, your mouth will get very drive, you will stop feeling hungry, until it is all over. Then after a short time. Your body will react violently for what you have just experienced. The effects of epinephrine and nor-epinephrine produced by the body in a fight or flight situation. Trust me on this, you won't hear your gunshots.

I survived Mogadishu in Oct 93, I have the hearing damage to prove it, But i didn't hear a damn thing while it happened.
 
The only good thing about the ringing in my ears is that I can't hear my wife. The bad thing is that she gets really POd at me because she thinks I don't care. - Her voice has a pitch that is about half covered by the ringing.

As noted above. DON'T DO IT. I will risk not hearing to save my life, not for practice. I already know what a gun sounds like.

If you really are a firefighter, you should know that when people lose their health, they don't always gain it back.
But, a man ought to do what he thinks is right.
 
I would STRONGLY recommend that you ALWAYS wear hearing protection. Not only when on the range, but when using ANY noisy equipment, lawn mowers, chain saws, etc. And do not forget your eye protection. It really is one of those "Better safe than sorry" areas.

I don't turn on a leaf blower w/out some type of ears on.
 
I want to learn more about auditory exclusion, especially from military . Do you guys wear hearing protection?

Sure didn't, that's why I'm F---ing Deaf now. Don't do it.

FWIW one of the most common complaints for returning vets is hearing loss
 
Its funny how everyone here posts something decent to say except for Tuts...I guess there's gotta be one a-hole in each thread...

I am a firefighter and a paramedic. I have trained in live fire scenarios, had IV's started on me by people who have never done them before, and have done other harmful training. It hurts getting stuck 6 times, fishing for the vein each time, but I go back year after year to help new paramedics train because they save lives, and its worth training. That was just part of the process. Police get tazered and pepper sprayed during their academy (at least in Clackamas county they did). Fighters practice taking punches to toughen up. Muy Thai spend days kicking tree trunks to harden their shins. Tuts, have you every had to fire your firearm in a fight or flight exchange? Did you feel the auditory exclusion? I have heard of it, I wanted to know more about it. If its worth training for or not. I have fired less rounds then an average soldier would hear in 1 second during a gun fight.

How about you stop acting like your child and answer the questions like everyone else in this thread?
 
M1911a1lvr:230490 said:
never fire your guns without hearing protection ever. It isn't worth loosing your hearing for a supposed training technique. If you ever get into a gun fight, and I hope you don't, you will experience auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, loss of fine motor control, time will slow down, your mouth will get very drive, you will stop feeling hungry, until it is all over. Then after a short time. Your body will react violently for what you have just experienced. The effects of epinephrine and nor-epinephrine produced by the body in a fight or flight situation. Trust me on this, you won't hear your gunshots.

I survived Mogadishu in Oct 93, I have the hearing damage to prove it, But i didn't hear a damn thing while it happened.

This is exactly what I was hoping to read. Thanks.
 
Its funny how everyone here posts something decent to say except for Tuts...I guess there's gotta be one a-hole in each thread...

I am a firefighter and a paramedic. I have trained in live fire scenarios, had IV's started on me by people who have never done them before, and have done other harmful training. It hurts getting stuck 6 times, fishing for the vein each time, but I go back year after year to help new paramedics train because they save lives, and its worth training. That was just part of the process. Police get tazered and pepper sprayed during their academy (at least in Clackamas county they did). Fighters practice taking punches to toughen up. Muy Thai spend days kicking tree trunks to harden their shins. Tuts, have you every had to fire your firearm in a fight or flight exchange? Did you feel the auditory exclusion? I have heard of it, I wanted to know more about it. If its worth training for or not. I have fired less rounds then an average soldier would hear in 1 second during a gun fight.

How about you stop acting like your child and answer the questions like everyone else in this thread?

Chen, you know I fully appreciate your desire to learn and experience; as a matter of fact I even share it! However, all of the examples you give, with a few very rare exceptions, only cause temporary damage that repairs itself and has no real long-term side effect or damage. I have been tazed, maced, and toughened myself for martial arts training, but I had no damage beyond a few days or so. However, after studying a little about hearing, I had two sets of custom earplugs made to fit my ear canal that will cut a LOT of noise and they each came with a small pocket carrying case. Damage to the ear is so easy and so permanent, as well as having constant side-effects like Tinnitus, that I not only carry the ear plugs for shooting, but every day for loud situations like screaming children in a restaurant or a loud repair shop or factory. If I had the chance, I might try to get them in during a shooting! The ear is about the only part of our body that seems to be less forgiving to abuse and does not heal itself as well as most of the rest of us.

When I was younger I shot firearms intermittently without hearing protection (we're all impervious then, ya'know?), then I had a 12-guage shotgun discharged near my face that left me with severe tinnitus for a week and about a year later a large blast went off before I was behind cover, leaving me with a minor concussion and a bleeding ear. I decided that was the end of my hearing stupidity! This is an interesting discussion because I had a hearing test yesterday and the doc told me my hearing was much better than he expected it to be for someone my age. I believe those ear plugs have really helped me save my hearing as I reach middle age, and should I ever have to defend myself and possibly deal with auditory exclusion I will, but when I was younger, I do remember my ears closing to the point that people behind and to the side of me became harder or even unable to be heard - THAT was what originally started to worry me!
 
TekGreg:230528 said:
Chen, you know I fully appreciate your desire to learn and experience; as a matter of fact I even share it! However, all of the examples you give, with a few very rare exceptions, only cause temporary damage that repairs itself and has no real long-term side effect or damage. I have been tazed, maced, and toughened myself for martial arts training, but I had no damage beyond a few days or so. However, after studying a little about hearing, I had two sets of custom earplugs made to fit my ear canal that will cut a LOT of noise and they each came with a small pocket carrying case. Damage to the ear is so easy and so permanent, as well as having constant side-effects like Tinnitus, that I not only carry the ear plugs for shooting, but every day for loud situations like screaming children in a restaurant or a loud repair shop or factory. If I had the chance, I might try to get them in during a shooting! The ear is about the only part of our body that seems to be less forgiving to abuse and does not heal itself as well as most of the rest of us.

When I was younger I shot firearms intermittently without hearing protection (we're all impervious then, ya'know?), then I had a 12-guage shotgun discharged near my face that left me with severe tinnitus for a week and about a year later a large blast went off before I was behind cover, leaving me with a minor concussion and a bleeding ear. I decided that was the end of my hearing stupidity! This is an interesting discussion because I had a hearing test yesterday and the doc told me my hearing was much better than he expected it to be for someone my age. I believe those ear plugs have really helped me save my hearing as I reach middle age, and should I ever have to defend myself and possibly deal with auditory exclusion I will, but when I was younger, I do remember my ears closing to the point that people behind and to the side of me became harder or even unable to be heard - THAT was what originally started to worry me!

The day you stop learning, is the day you start dying. I live by that statement from Einstein.

Good advise, thank you. I understand what you mean about hearing being less forgiving. I have horrible vision, but its one sense I've been told actually has a chance of improving later on life. Hearing is exactly opposite.

When I lived in Eugene (grass seed capitol of the universe), I used to get the worst sinus congestion. Because we are invincible when we are younger, I jumped off a 40 foot cliff into water, the pressure had no where to go, I ruptured both ear drums. Talk about painful and disorienting. That, plus riding a motorcycle for the last 7 years, i'm more than lucky to retain such quality hearing. The advice through this forum sounds great. I haven't shot any rounds unprotected for a while now, I trust auditory exclusion will work for me too.

Self defense experience...something I wish I could get without having to go through hell and back.
 
I can see the point in that but I have only one set of ears. Maybe someday in a self defense situation I won't have time to don ear muffs but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
 
While I wear hearing protection while practicing I do not while hunting. Not as many rounds fired but still loud and yes im going deaf.
 
While I wear hearing protection while practicing I do not while hunting. Not as many rounds fired but still loud and yes im going deaf.

And if,knowing that you are going deaf, you continue to do so, you're also an idiot.
 
The day you stop learning, is the day you start dying. I live by that statement from Einstein.

Good advise, thank you. I understand what you mean about hearing being less forgiving. I have horrible vision, but its one sense I've been told actually has a chance of improving later on life. Hearing is exactly opposite.

When I lived in Eugene (grass seed capitol of the universe), I used to get the worst sinus congestion. Because we are invincible when we are younger, I jumped off a 40 foot cliff into water, the pressure had no where to go, I ruptured both ear drums. Talk about painful and disorienting. That, plus riding a motorcycle for the last 7 years, i'm more than lucky to retain such quality hearing. The advice through this forum sounds great. I haven't shot any rounds unprotected for a while now, I trust auditory exclusion will work for me too.

Self defense experience...something I wish I could get without having to go through hell and back.

Chen, according to my doctor, the good news is that you can rupture your ear drums four or five times and still not have hearing damage! A rupture, depending on where it tears and how bad, protects the rest of the ear. If the drum heals normally, you can actually save your hearing with a rupture. That stupid Tinnitus, however, is a hit-and-miss affair as to whether it's going to go away or not. If you don't have ringing or hissing, you're in great shape! I would start now and maybe take some extra steps to protect what you have left. ;)

Self defense experience...something I wish I could get without having to go through hell and back.

Unfortunately for shooting-type self-defense experience, the survival rate is right around 50%...whoever wins. You are a hands-on, want-to-know-what-it's-like type of person, but there are just some things you can't experience until it actually happens.
(Why do I see a device about two years in the future, invented by FirefighterChen, that can safely simulate Auditory Exclusion? :sarcastic: )
 
While I wear hearing protection while practicing I do not while hunting. Not as many rounds fired but still loud and yes im going deaf.

I always hunt with electronic muffs that close with each shot but are open to hear the surrounding noises normally. Not really practical for practice, but as you say, hunting is only a few shots and electronic ear muffs can block almost all of that damaging noise.
 
I think this thread also brings into consideration something else for the shooter's hearing safety and the general peace of the public: legal suppressors. Suppressors are much easier to obtain in the states that allow them, can make practice very safe and quiet to the neighbors, and are much smaller and more effective than they used to be. Some people still attach a James Bond-type mystique to them, but I think like open carry, they are becoming more and more acceptable.

In a self-defense situation that required a quick presentation, you obviously wouldn't use a suppressor, but given any prep time, some even have quarter-turn, quick-attach fittings that could be deployed in less than two seconds. Imagine how scared a BG would be to stare down a suppressed barrel and wonder why he was stupid enough to mug a CIA agent!
 
Anything that makes your ears ring has damaged your hearing. I have LOUD tinitus, mostly from industrial noise and it sucks. +1 that it can lead your wife to think you aren't listening to her. I hear a lot of stuff that makes no sense because I didn't hear what was really said.
 

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