I think through this scenario every day, and often discuss it with my wife as her safety is as important as my own. My thinking is that there will probably be one to three "bad guys" coming in to our home after breaking down one of the entrance ways. Our security system is always armed from dusk to dawn.

Now, at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., when the security alarm is sounding, the security company is trying to contact us on our telephone (LL and mobile) to determine if it's a real or false alarm, and I'm trying to wake up and determine where my wife is, and to encourage her to hide somewhere ASAP so that I know exactly where she is (not in my field of fire), I just can't imagine that hearing protection would be high on my list of things to do. The "bad guys" want to get in and neutralize us as fast as they can. We have the very same goal. We each have seconds (let's say less than 20 or 30 at the most) to win. There is also some likelihood that they are already high on coke, meth, etc. when they arrive.

I would think that you would want to have good hearing as long as possible before you physically confront the "bad guys" and crank off those well-placed, deadly rounds. If there are three "bad guys" EVERY round has to count for a kill! When you are trying to continuously retain and maintain the "element of surprise", I am sure that I will not be yelling or speaking in a normal tone of voice (think "whisper") or voice level to my wife.

Additionally, although I'm not a LEO with their extensive experience, I doubt that I'll have time to fire more than three or four rounds. Five or six at the most. This is not the same noise hazard risk as firing many rounds at the gun range.

Xfuzz described his situation perfectly when the backups arrived and he thought that they were mimes is spot-on!

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That's what we do!