Hearing damage

[QuietShootr]

As I said, the hearing damage is cumulative. I see guys here on M4C every now and then talking about the importance of keeping hearing protection with their bedside home defense arsenal or the importance of running suppressors on their home defense weapons to protect their hearing. If one believes that they'll have to fire so many self-defense rounds in their lifetime that their hearing is in jeopardy then they should either find another job, find a different neighborhood, or seriously examine their level of paranoia.

Feh. I use a 10" Colt for HD. Lighting it off in a hallway will **** your shit up, so I keep a can on it. I don't care about cumulative damage at that point, I care about being able to hear if the guy I just laid out at the end of the hallway has buddies behind him.

[QuietShootr]

I use those exact same plugs, but walking around with them in 24/7 in preparation for a possible self-defense or home intrusion situation is impractical. Seems like there's really no way around just taking the hearing damage if a situation goes south before you have time to prepare. Still, I suppose hearing damage is preferable to dying.

No, no...that's not what I meant. I meant if you're getting ready to go out on a patrol, put the ****in EP3/EP4s in and just leave them until you're in a safe area. They work fine under Sordins or Peltor comm headsets, and it might make the difference between a broken eardrum or not.

[Ned Christiansen]

Had lunch the other day with a gentleman of 90 who flew dozens of missions in a B-25. Just the plane itself was tremendously loud inside. He said when the eight fixed, forward-firing .50's were triggered, it got quite a bit louder!

He was in his early 20's at the time. He was wearing hearing aids as one might expect at that age but conversation with him was no problem.

[markm]

Anyone obsessively troubled by hearing loss in a fire fight should read ON COMBAT.

Some people don't like Grossman, but I think he makes an interesting case against the hearing damage hard liners.

[Hmac]

Anyone obsessively troubled by hearing loss in a fire fight should read ON COMBAT.

Some people don't like Grossman, but I think he makes an interesting case against the hearing damage hard liners.

I've read both On Killing and On Combat. I don't like or dislike him, but I certainly don't find his credentials as a physiologist compelling. His theories on hearing damage in combat is nothing more than anecdote and vague references to "research authorities" without attribution. In the meantime, it does contradict the vast body of peer-reviewed literature from credible sources.

[QuietShootr]

Anyone obsessively troubled by hearing loss in a fire fight should read ON COMBAT.

Some people don't like Grossman, but I think he makes an interesting case against the hearing damage hard liners.

I just wish the asshole blowing the dog whistle in my right ear would stop sometime before I'm dead.

And not to derail a perfectly good hearing thread, but being that Grossman's research is almost entirely based on S.L.A. Marshall's bullshit....

[markm]

I just wish the asshole blowing the dog whistle in my right ear would stop sometime before I'm dead.

And not to derail a perfectly good hearing thread, but being that Grossman's research is almost entirely based on S.L.A. Marshall's bullshit....

I've read both sides of the arguement on that here on M4. And I still thought that Grossman's book was a worthwhile read.

[Arctic1]

I have hearing loss on both ears from shooting without ear pro on many occations. Including one .308 blank fired right next to my right ear, no ear pro. That hurt.

It's not something that affects me in day to day life, but I sometimes have problems making out words if there is other noise present as well; TV is on, water running etc, and it is made worse if the person addressing me is facing away from at the same time.

When I do audiometric hearing tests, the doctor can clearly point out which frequencies and decibel levels I don't register, that a person with undamaged hearing would.

Not debilitating yet, but I use ear pro when I can.

[Arctic1]

In addition, we have seen several soldiers come home from Afghanistan with career ending hearing loss, from being involved in protracted fire fights without ear pro. Anecdotal yes, but it seems to be the norm.

[jmoore]

I've spoken with more than a few audiologist over the years who feel that - even wearing ear pro - firing a woodstocked high power rifle over time will result in hearing loss d/t bone conduction of sound via the cheek weld!!!!

John