I know someone who is talking about keeping some electronic ear protection (muffs) near his HD firearm. He says if he hears a bump in the night and has the time before investigating, he will put on the ear protection so he can preserve his hearing if he has to fire, but at the same time be able to hear noises around him.

He spent a lot of time playing music in bars and clubs in his youth, and the loud music took some of his hearing. He wants to preserve whats left.

Sounds a little "extreme" to me, but I couldn't argue with his logic.

__________________
Stay protected my friends.

Hold on bad guy, let me put my hearing protection on before I shoot you.

Not happening.

Every second counts. I'd rather lose my hearing than my life.

I don't think every situation is measured in seconds. In fact, I know of several local instances where it was MINUTES between the time the homeowner was made aware of someone trying to get in, and them actually getting in.

__________________
Stay protected my friends.

Your right, not EVERY situation is measured in seconds. A lot of them are though.

What if his situation is measured in seconds?

Pretty sure nobody is going to put on hearing protection if there's a bad guy charging them with a machete.

But, if you'd rather be able to hear things when your dead, go for it.

Did you notice that he said "if there is time?" OF COURSE, if the threat is already upon him it's not an option.

__________________
Stay protected my friends.

You'll know you HAD time after the incident. During the incident you have no idea what is going to happen.

I don't care if the ear protection is attached to the gun with a string...it ain't gonna happen if I am ever in a situation requiring POSSIBLY my use of a gun.

__________________
Bob | KM4DEO
Sport | Glock 22

I keep my amplified hearing protectors next to my guns. If someone managed to burst into my bedroom at 3am I'd be toast anyway but in most situations I'd hear the alarm and grab a gun. Which come to think of it when I've had a false alarm the hearing protectors were the last thing on my mind and never on my head.

What I'm seeing here is the common desire to have a one size fits all approach to every possible situation. The idea being that if you have a set of tactics that works for everything, then you only need to know one set of tactics.

That sounds good on the face of it, but th problem is that this approach leads to a great deal of tactical rigidity. In other words, if all you've got is a hammer, you automatically interpret every situation as a nail.

Personally I have no problem using every tool at my disposal and a set of electronic hearing protectors may make sense in some situations. It's also obvious that if I awakened by the noise of someone trying to break in, and I've got the time, I'm going to do all kinds of things other than shoot, such as call 911, activate the house alarm, direct the child and spousal units to go to ground in the predesignated location(s) as well as continue assessing the threat. That leaves plenty of time for hearing protection, and it's important to remember that going directly to using your firearm may not be the best idea in all situations.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the issue. If I'm watching TV in the evening and someone kicks in the front door with a weapon, I'm immediately drawing and shooting as I carry from the time I get up until the time I go to bed as a gun in the next room is pretty much useless in that kind of situation. And obviously there won't be time for hearing protection.

I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with being flexible.

Semper Gumby

Good idea IF you have the time. We are musicians and would like to keep our hearing but when you gotta shoot, you gotta shoot. I make ammo that isn't the most powerful for HD. I figure close range will be the norm there.

My .357 loads are are very low end for .357 because I DON'T want to pop off full loads in the house. And my 9mms aren't loaded to +P type levels, either.

(Now Kirk settles down to empty the bamboo, crush the coal, make a hole in the bamboo for a fuse and then mix his ingredients a little more precisely.)
MCCOY: Can he do it?
SPOCK: If he has the time, Doctor. If he has the time.

Star Trek - 'Arena'

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

It's actually a very good idea depending on circumstances and highly recommended by some notable trainers. Mas Ayoob, for one, has long been a proponent of electronic muffs to amplify sounds. Hearing protection is a secondary goal.

Denigrating a suggestion is really uncalled for. A little respect goes a long way.

__________________
USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73

Such negativity amongst some. Keep it simple: You want to wear hearing protection, wear hearing protection. If you don't want to wear it, then don't wear it. No one else has to answer for your choice.

Hearing protection goes on just after my athletic supporter and I make a salami sandwhich. All kidding aside, I have never contemplated hearing protection for exigencies. As a LEO we train extensively and always use hearing protection, but never discuss its use in the field or for HD. Not saying don't do it, stuff just doesn't unfold the way you plan it in your head, it just happens. It's not a bad idea, but theory and practice often diverge. KISS

Very well said!

__________________
Stay protected my friends.

I can tell you from personal experience that you might not hear a thing, it's called auditory exclusion. You might also experience everything slowing down. I watched the empties exit the weapon, reset the trigger and was waiting on the slide to come back into battery so I could press the trigger again. The front sight looked as big as a house. While I was waiting on the slide to close I remember telling the Glock to "Come On, Come On". To this day a loud noise that happens out of my field of vision really bothers me. I never heard anything it was as if I was totally deaf, the .40 made no noise at all.

Sounds a bit extreme to me. I know if I started hearing sounds around
my home in the middle of the night the last thing I would want to do
would be muffle my hearing in any way. You get used to the sounds
that are normal to your home and it's easy to detect sounds that are
not....if you are listening very carefully. If I thought someone was
close at hand I would want my ears to be wide open.

Problem with that is....... In a stressful situation, when it turns out to be seconds and not minutes, you will revert to muscle memory and go for the hearing protection first.

It is logical to want to protect your hearing but in this case it's not. The few shots that you might take will not effect your hearing one way or another. Hearing damage comes from prolonged exposure.

I have shot just about every common caliber in an enclosed and sound proof room about the size of movie theater room. (38spl, 9, 45, 44mag, 50AE, 7.62x39, 7.62x54, 3006, 12G). One or two shots are not pleasant but whatever damage may have been done is to small to notice.

One could also makr an argument for body armor. It's just as possible to get shot at. So why not put on a vest and hearing protection and then grab the gun? Afterall it is logical. The less none essential things you train yourself to do under pressure the better.

A similar idea had often crossed my mind. I even tried sleeping one night with those little disposable foam ear plugs in my ears...the idea being that although they don't totally block sound, they at least dampen it.

Sounded fine in theory, but in practice, they came out of my ears during the night. So that sorta nixed that idea.

Firing a large caliber pistol in a small room without ear protection is brain numbing experience, believe me, but as someone else says, it's lots better to have hearing loss than life loss.

Agree "please Mr. intruder, wait just a minute while I get my ear protection on " Really

__________________
John

Pretty much what BB57 said. I do keep a set of electronic muffs in the nightstand. First the pistol comes out of the gunvault and if there is time I'll put the muffs on and crank up the volume. I have one of those Master Lock door jams on my bedroom door which grants a few seconds.

You're describing two separate but related things - Auditory exclusion and Tachypsychia.

In times of extreme stress large amounts of adrenaline will be dumped into the blood stream and along with this, very high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine can alter the perception of time. For most people time seems to speed up and things happen very fast, for the others, time slows to a crawl. I'm in the latter category and it's amazing how much time you have to think and react in what afterwards turns out to have been seconds or split seconds.

At the same time, the adrenaline causes you to focus so while you are hyper aware of what's happening in your foveal vision, you're peripheral vision is often poor and auditory exclusion also occurs. In essence, rather than spreading resources across a wide spectrum of stimuli your brain is channeling all it's processing power on the specific threat and things related to it.

But that's also not the point of this thread. Just because your brain does not process the auditory stimulus and you don't "hear" it, the concussive energy of the sound waves will cause acoustic trauma. It's always smart to use ear protection whenever you can, even in an actual shoot if time allows.

Even the US military has gotten in the act. About 10 years ago they started issuing little barbell shaped combat arms earplugs. One side is yellow and allows you to hear normal conversation, while providing some protection agains the high pitched bang of gunfire while the other side is brown and provides more complete protection like the normal foam plugs that shooters often use. There's currently some discussion of widely issuing electronic plugs, although it's always a question who well that will work long term in dusty, dirty, wet environments, when something is high tech, uses batteries and is used and abused by privates.

The difference between troops in combat and police officers is that gunfire is an expected, regular event in combat, while for an officer it's a very unusual situation, so the cost benefit ratios are different. The end result is that police officers don't use the electronic technology, even though it's available and effective at both reducing high frequency noise while normalizing or even amplifying the low frequency noises you want to be able to hear on patrol.

There's also a fair amount of research out there showing that a combination of anti-occident vitamins and a magnesium supplement taken prior to notice exposure can reduce permanent hearing loss due to acoustic trauma. So if you're a soldier or a serving officer taking a vitamin C and a magnesium supplement on a daily basis isn't a bad idea.

If you've got a department that give a damn about it's officers, after a shoot you'll be in to see an audiologist or ENT that day or the next day and if he knows his or her stuff, you'll be given steroids for a couple weeks along with using hearing protection 24/7 to provide the best chance of avoiding permanent hearing loss.

If your department doesn't care that much about you, or if you're involved in a civilian shoot, get into see an ENT or audiologist in the first couple days after the event to get treated. After 2-3 days the odds of preventing permanent damage and regaining any lost hearing are pretty slight.

But it's your choice. I can tell you from personal experience that hearing loss and tinnitus suck and a lot of vets will agree with me. You'll also find a lot of active duty servicemen and women you dread their next physical and hearing exam, due to fears of getting medically discharged due to hearing loss. I share the upper floor of a house in northern VA with a light colonel stationed there with 18.5 years of service and six deployments to the sand box trying like hell to stay in for 20 due to hearing issues.

I know I lost a great deal of my hearing due to these incidents and you are correct tinnitus sucks. I have to have a fan on at night to drown out the ringing in order to sleep. I sleep with both of my dogs on the floor of my bedroom because I wouldn't be able to hear anyone break in unless they shattered a window or knocked over something pretty large.

The type of hearing protection did not exist at the time of my incidents and the PD could have cared less.

Please re-read the OP.

He's talking about ELECTRONIC ear muffs that AMPLIFY ambient sound except for really loud stuff like gunshots.

These allow you to hear things better, as in the bad guy moving around, and also protect you from ear damage from gunshot noise.

__________________
USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73

I say if he's that worried about it, shell out the extra cash get a suppressor.

__________________
Just the opinion of a kid

For me it's always been a loaded 1911,two spare mags,and a cheap pair of foam plugs.Just enough to protect my ears while allowing me to still hear.

I think this is how we start with training. Simple stuff, first. Quick stuff. Becomes instinctive. Do it without thinking. Then we learn more advanced stuff. More complex. We learn a lot of different ways. Then we learn how to choose which way will work best. Eventually, we are just training ourselves how to think. Hopefully, we don't stop training at step one.

Does your suppressor suppress the bang from the bad guy's gun?

__________________
USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73

You're assuming suppressor's are legal where the OP's friend lives.

I do keep electronic ear protection next to me. As some have mentioned, my primary purpose is also to amplify sounds and improve directional hearing. My hearing is normal but it's amazing how much of an improvement electronic hearing protection provides. Prevention of hearing loss in case shooting starts is a good bonus.

I've also taken steps to minimize surprises by a multitude of perimeter sensors long before the potential bad guys reach the house structure. Then, there are various intrusion detectors that will be triggered if an actual break-in occurs.

So the chances of being surprised are significantly reduced. I'd like to say "eliminated" but I'm a realist. I would most likely get an early warning and have a chance to assess the situation, rather than just being startled and immediately shooting at the silhouette sneaking across the room (might be a family member). I'd have extra time to put on the hearing amplifiers (6 seconds additional). The amplified hearing and improved directional hearing are part of my tools for better assessment of the situation.

I've actually had to investigate things in the dark a couple of times, and the proximity of the electronic hearing protection helped a lot. Most (hopefully all) of these "bumps in the night" are not home invasions and do not result in gunbattles.

Now, if a bad guy just happened to streak through the air undetected, and CRASH through a window to land right next to me, that would entail a different reaction involving kicking, punching, scratching, biting, throwing anything within reach, until my explosive-driven projectile hurler can be activated.

There are some crossed wires here with regard to communication.

First, the OP qualified it with the requirement of time to do so.

Second, he's talking about good quality electronic ear pro (like my Sordins) that will both muffle loud noises and amplify lower stuff. I can tell you that they work great for that. I used to carry mine in the trunk of the patrol car in my helmet for active shooter situations and the like. Only needed the helmet once, but it was priceless. The ear pro could also be connected pretty easily to my portable radio, so I could hear it better in loud conditions. (I always wore an earpiece of course.) Only used the Sordins once (off duty job at a race track) and again; priceless.

Third, home protection, like most other circumstances, should be built on layers and a reasonable risk assessment. We have a big fence with padlocked gates that would delay an intruder, and coming over it would make noise. Even getting near it would likely make enough noise to awaken the dogs. I am not likely to hear anything other than the 121 pounds of black furry hate and his 62 pound sister (if my wife is with me) raising a lot of hell. I am also not likely to get to an intruder who is fool enough to keep coming after hearing the dogs before Bozo does, and then all I am going hear is screaming as large chunks of flesh get ripped off the offender.

I am most likely to go for the AR first if I can; it has a light (Surefire Px3, of course) and RDS (Aimpoint, of course) mounted and is most appropriate for fighting. That said, the first goal is to make sure the intrusion is as unlikely and unappealing as possible. That will do more to save lives (the ones that matter, not the offender), hearing, etc, than anything else.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

Ok, put your electronic earmuffs on your nightstand. If you use them, fine; if you don't use them, fine. At least you have the option if you possess the wherewithal and opportunity. No harm. No foul.

It looks like this idea is in practice more than I thought.
The next time I have a spare $100 I will pick up a pair exclusivelly for my nightstand.
I like having options, and if the situation permits me to "preserve a bit more of my hearing"?...all the better!

__________________
Stay protected my friends.

Really??? It's your home it's your own life if you want to wear earplugs and a tactical vest go for it! I have a model 64-6 loaded with .38 special custom home defense rounds. Don't need earplugs or a tactical vest but that's how I live. To each their own if you want a shotgun, 500 Magnum or a grenade launcher for home defense enjoy and be safe but don't forget your earplugs!!! Lol

I keep a pair of amplified ear protectors in a drawer of my nightstand. As others have said, using them depends on the immediacy of the threat.

Some gunfights are "come as you are," while others come with some advance warning that something may be amiss. The trick is to know the difference. Amplified hearing protectors offer enhanced hearing over the naked ear. That's important for those of us who have accumulated some milage. Them there 1854 Springfields were loud as heck and damaged the hearing.

I keep mine next to my nightstand pistol. I can always elect to not use them if I don't have time. If they're stowed in my range bag.....
I'm pretty sure one .45 round indoors would deafen me.

If you hear the bad guy's gun, hearing damage could possibly be the least of your concerns!

My "go to" HD gun is a .44 Magnum snubby. However, it's loaded with a 200 gr. Gold Dot HP at about 900 fps. I'm not too worried about any damage to my ears should I need to fire it indoors, and I wouldn't be regardless of what I was using.

Once upon a time my wife and I lived in a low rent apartment complex in New Orleans, LA. Over the course of two years we had three incidents where someone tried to drop in on us uninvited. In each instance, had I been using a pistol, there would have been plenty of time to put on ear muffs. Given that I was using a shotgun... they all found wings and flew away just as soon as I shucked the action and pointed it at them. Hum.... they must have been ... angels? Sincerely. bruce.

__________________
<><

My electronic hearing protection, while great for the range, to my ear cancels out directional hearing even as it amplifies sounds. If I can't determine the location of what I'm hearing, I'm at a disadvantage. Anyone else notice this phenomenon?

Of course it does nothing to quiet the BG's gun, but many people today are going the suppressor route on HD guns, especially since they are now legal in 39 States.

If the BG gets a shot off before you at night in your home, it's probably not going to end good for you. I like the idea of the "Don't wake the baby gun".

Obviously in an "every second counts" scenario - which is most unlikely - you cannot don hearing protection. However I have an set of amplified earmuffs on top of my gun vault to use in every other situation. I've lost half my hearing and am pretty much socially deaf. I cannot follow a conversation even with $4000 hearing aids unless you are looking at me and practically yelling at me. You can be plotting my death 3 feet away and I would not know the topic of your discussion. Folks who hear fine don't know what it's like. I would almost rather take a bullet than fire indoors without protection and loose what I have. And yes I've seen people shot, been through their surgeries and recoveries.

chances are you wouldn't even hear it, go deer hunting and fire off your 12 gauge next to your head. you don't even hear it.

I have electronic Ear Muffs on the Night Stand next to my bed. If you turn up the volume it magnifies the sound around you and still blocks the shot sound.

Sometimes, indeed, you don't encode the sound; your ears, however, still experience the damage.