Originally Posted by
bkb0000
any time you exceed your ears threshold, you'll have some degree of permanent hearing loss. but not necessarily noticeable. it's not a guaranty that you'll have noticeable hearing loss just because you blast some asshole in your house, and if you do, it's still likely to be minor, and if it's not, is your life not worth it?
and i don't know where this misconception that firing inside a house is worse than firing elsewhere comes from. if you have hardwood floors, sparse furniture, and smooth walls, probably- but most people have carpet, furniture, textured walls and ceiling, shit hanging on the walls, etc- all of these things absorb sound. without getting into it, i've had occasion to fire two rounds of .45acp from a 3.5" barrel while standing just inside the doorway between a bedroom and residential hallway without earpro- all carpeted with textured walls and fully furnished.. no tinnitus, no noticeable hearing loss (though we all know there had to have been some, to some degree). counter that with firing the same weapon once while standing over gravel without hearing protection- i almost dropped the weapon, it hurt so bad. i had tinnitus and temporary loss for two days.
all of this said, i've fired a 10.5" with a battlecomp 1.0 over grass without hearing protection... it was very loud, and i did have minor tinnitus and noticeable temporary hearing loss, but suffered no noticeable permanent hearing loss (again, as above) and was fine in a few hours. accidentally left my earpro on the table behind me..
is it possible you'll go permanently and totally deaf from blasting a short barrel inside without hearing pro? certainly... but very unlikely.