Ears Under Attack: Hunting for Protection

Ears Under Attack: Hunting for Protection

Have you ever heard of NIHL? Noise-induced hearing loss starts with super loud sounds, and while you may think this condition is limited to construction workers or musicians, hunters actually deal with major hearing loss problems as well. Many hunters now use hearing aids because they didn't take precautions earlier to prevent damage to their eardrums.  In fact, the average shotgun creates 160 plus dB (decibels) of sound, while one with a silencer still produces about 144 dB. These are incredibly stressful for the human ear. My father is one of those hunters who neglected his hearing protection while hunting and is suffering the consequences later on in life.  Now, many hunters choose to wear earmuffs but there are other ways to prevent the hazards of hearing loss the next hunting season.

Where You Practice Matters

Indoor shooting ranges are a bad idea if you're trying to avoid hurting your eardrums. The noise just doesn't have anywhere to go and even with high quality earmuffs, you're still doing some damage to your eardrums. You can get a much safer practice session at an outdoor shooting range. This way, the noise travels, away from your ear and you can still protect your ear safely from local noise with earmuffs or other gadgets.

Benefits of Earplugs

Some hunters actually prefer earplugs to large earmuffs. These are usually the first way that beginner hunters think to protect their ears, but are they as good as earmuffs? Well, certain earplugs are made for hunters and do prevent much of the noise that can harm your ears while you hunt. However, you should take a look at a variety of different hunting ear safety gear and try out earplugs before using them. Hunters have noted that earplugs don't really protect as much as the earmuff and can be flimsy.

 Benefits of Earmuffs

This is every hunter's favorite way to protect their ears, particularly during colder months. Earmuffs offer all over protection for ears. Warm, all-encompassing, earmuffs resemble larger headphones and rest over your ears, capturing sound and blocking it from going through to your ear drum. If you rather wear something over your ear than inside of it, earmuffs are definitely the right choice for you. There are a few different types of earmuffs, so choose a brand that's known for quality and research reviews to make sure that you're getting the best earmuffs.

Benefits of Electronic Earmuffs

These are rather high-tech gadgets freshly released for the hunting scene. If you love having something new and different that also has some handy benefits, the electronic earmuffs allow in lower sounds, such as ambiance or local chatter, but will block out anything above 80 dB, such as your loud shotgun fire or the firearm next to you. The electronic part of the earmuff detects louder noises before they enter your ear and mutes the sound. This allows hunters to still have conversations about the weather or more importantly, warn one another before getting into harm's way.

Many hunters make decisions about their safety gear early on. However, you should always consider updating your ear protection if you have older earmuffs or just want something that can protect you better against hearing loss.

 

Hi my name is John O'Connor, I am a father, outdoorsman and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.  Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in hearing loss.  My father and grandfathers, who are and were all hunters, are affected by hearing loss.  I feel that there is a general lack of understanding around the issue and it is our job to spread awareness where we can.  Check out my new blog at bloggingwjohno.blogspot.com!