I’ve placed a 5gal bucket filled with damp sand in a bathroom and shot a 10.5” 5.56 AR straight down into it. I was wearing plugs and ear muffs and it still sucked the breath from my lungs out through my nose. It was jarring, to put it mildly. I couldn’t imagine doing that at night, under stress, with potentially multiple rounds flying in each direction.

The 11.5” with a suppressor was merely “annoying” by comparison. I wore no ear pro and experienced mild ringing but it wasn’t bad at all.

If I still believed in using firearms to defend myself and keeping an AR out I would absolutely use a suppressor. I’m sure as hell not throwing on ear pro at 2am, and I consider shooting an SBR indoors in a confined space a safety hazard for the shooter if only due to the disorientation alone.

FWIW I don’t recommend the bucket thing. Sand was EVERYWHERE and stuck to the walls, door, ceiling, etc. it was terrible. Stained the paint on the walls and everything. If you have a wife or live-in girlfriend they might not like that. I recommend Tinder.