Hearing protection

Maybe I look at it different. I would think if I damaged my hearing to the point that I needed a hearing aid, I would do whatever, spend whatever it took to protect the other. Not talking bad about you or anything and I realize how expensive these things are(just bought my ESPs), but I feel like hearing is a good investment.
 
sashatrew said:
Wearing muffs is absolutely useless, they provide little protection from shooting sound.
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Protective shooting ear muffs do not provide hearing protection when shooting? Ya, I'm going to have to completely disagree with that. Everyone at the range is wearing them for that exact reason.
 
sashatrew said:
I bought pulse filters, the ad was very convincing, but in fact I got hearing problems too. Wearing muffs is absolutely useless, they provide little protection from shooting sound.
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I also trust that is an inaccurate statement. I wear those while banging away with centerfire rifles, with 2 others shooter, while shooting prairie dawgs every year. I have hearing loss and tinnitus, being a life long shooter and loud stereos as a youth, have both likely contributed to this. If muffs didn't work, I would be deaf as a hammer along with every prairie dawg shooter.
 
2 days ago I heard a turkey in the coolee that I was able to blast, that I would not have heard with hearing protection. I cooked him up in the camper, and gave some to the farmer, and his brother.
 
Hi all - new to the forum as I was searching for info on hearing protection and found this thread. I'm seeing lots of options being listed for anywhere from a few hundred to $2500 with people saying they work well so I'm struggling to know what to get. My situation - I have high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus, more in my right ear than left, that's been diagnosed over the past few years. I've been told I must protect what's left of my hearing and I need ear protection when hunting. I went pheasant hunting yesterday wearing my walkers silencers 2.0 BT. With 15-20mph winds, the wind noise was HORRIBLE. It really ruined my enjoyment of the hunt. I'm under 50 and not ready to give up hunting yet. What options are best for beating wind noise? The audio wasn't fantastic with the walkers but it was the wind noise that was the deal breaker.
 
hawk75 said:
Hi all - new to the forum as I was searching for info on hearing protection and found this thread. I'm seeing lots of options being listed for anywhere from a few hundred to $2500 with people saying they work well so I'm struggling to know what to get. My situation - I have high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus, more in my right ear than left, that's been diagnosed over the past few years. I've been told I must protect what's left of my hearing and I need ear protection when hunting. I went pheasant hunting yesterday wearing my walkers silencers 2.0 BT. With 15-20mph winds, the wind noise was HORRIBLE. It really ruined my enjoyment of the hunt. I'm under 50 and not ready to give up hunting yet. What options are best for beating wind noise? The audio wasn't fantastic with the walkers but it was the wind noise that was the deal breaker.
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You need to give Jack a call at ESP. He can explain it better than most of us here and get you what you need. If you have any kind of flex at work they can use it to cover the costs too, I had extra so that's one of the main reasons I bought mine. They are just the cheapest analog models but they sound amazing to me. Shooting all afternoon friday I didn't even notice having them on, easy to carry a conversation and didn't even notice the crazy dodge city wind either. I HIGHLY recommend them! They don't have all the Bluetooth and other unnecessary garbage, just hearing protection. Plain and simple.

Electronic Hearing Protection for Shooting | Electronic Earplugs

At ESP America, we offer a wide range of electronic hearing protection for shooting. Our hearing protection plugs will help you in eliminating the harmful effects of the shooting. Shop Now!
www.espamerica.com www.espamerica.com
ESP America
15290 Gadsden Ct.
Brighton, CO 80603

Phone: 303-659-8844
Fax: 303-659-8668

Working Hours: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
 
hawk75 said:
Hi all - new to the forum as I was searching for info on hearing protection and found this thread. I'm seeing lots of options being listed for anywhere from a few hundred to $2500 with people saying they work well so I'm struggling to know what to get. My situation - I have high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus, more in my right ear than left, that's been diagnosed over the past few years. I've been told I must protect what's left of my hearing and I need ear protection when hunting. I went pheasant hunting yesterday wearing my walkers silencers 2.0 BT. With 15-20mph winds, the wind noise was HORRIBLE. It really ruined my enjoyment of the hunt. I'm under 50 and not ready to give up hunting yet. What options are best for beating wind noise? The audio wasn't fantastic with the walkers but it was the wind noise that was the deal breaker.
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I have hearing loss and tinnitus.

I am a man of limited financial means and I hunt and fish with my disposable income.

I have tried several electronic ear muffs and do agree that the wind generated noise is unbearable.

I now wear Sensgard Ear Shields. Several of the guys that I hunt with now wear them too.

They cost under $30 and are non electronic. They allow some hearing of casual conversation and pheasant flushes and have NRR of 31.

 
I have been happy with
DECIBULLZ CUSTOM MOLDED PERCUSSIVE SHOOTING FILTERS
The Percussive Filters protect users from the peak sound pressure of gunshots, and explosions, suppressing them to safe levels.
When a percussive noise is not present the filters allow you to hear ambient noise.

You custom-fit them to your ears by heating them in a cup of water,
then molding them to each individual ear.
$69 so I bought an extra pair just in case I drop one and loose it.
 
Thanks everyone. Still haven't made a decision. I tried my Howard Leight electronic muffs last time. They were better beating the wind than the Walkers silencers but didn't give me the hearing and situational awareness I was looking for and of course interfered a little with shooting. I'm really struggling to adjust to hunting with ear pro on. From what I'm reading, it sounds like the only way to get that no ear pro hearing experience is spending thousands on electronic in ear pro like ESP or Soundgear? Would decibals or a custom fit passive ear plug (like $200 around here) get me an 80-90% normal hearing experience?
 
I have been trying out the Decibullz earplugs this fall. I cannot hunt in them. I feel I could if I got used to them, but they muffle too much sound for me. I can't hear the dog in the brush unless they are really close, and I am not sure I'd hear a wild flush. They work great for shooting, and I'd wear them for ducks, but I cannot see how I'd be aware enough upland hunting.
 
Thanks MNMEAD, you just saved me $70 :)

I have my son wearing surefire sonic defenders with the tabs open and he is saying similar things. Yesterday I had my Leights on and was able to hear several birds flush over by him that he was not able to hear. Just doesn't seem like there is a good option for upland for passive protection. Just restricts your ability to hear the dog, birds etc too much. I'm hesitant to spend $1-$2k on the high end in ear electronic ear pro unless they can really handle the wind. Every time I've been out this year it's been 15mph + and my Walker silencers are awful.
 
MNMEAD said:
I have been trying out the Decibullz earplugs this fall. I cannot hunt in them. I feel I could if I got used to them, but they muffle too much sound for me. I can't hear the dog in the brush unless they are really close, and I am not sure I'd hear a wild flush. They work great for shooting, and I'd wear them for ducks, but I cannot see how I'd be aware enough upland hunting.
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Hi - new member here. Like those on this thread, I have mild tinnitus. A product of being a child of the 80s - too many metal concerts.

I bought the Axil Extreme GS 2.0, which work surprisingly well for me. Sale price was $99. The only downside is that the recommended, most protective foam plugs (firm, shaped like a long cylinder) are a bit uncomfortable. And when it’s 10 degrees out and you take them out for even a few minutes, it takes a while to soften them up back up.

To fix this and create a better seal, I bought a pair of the $20 DeciBullz just for the moldable ear putty. Boiled the plugs as instructed, separated the plastic insert from the putty, made a donut out of the putty to place around each earpiece, then pushed the earpiece/putty into my ear to mold.

Tips:
(1) Use the softer, slightly smaller rounded tip foam plugs. Attach them before you start the process.
(2) The putty donut should be thick towards the back of the earpiece, and thin at the front. Most of the molded putty will be behind the earpiece, in the "well" of the ear.
(3) I did the process in two steps: boil water & make donut, then re-boil and quickly place around earpiece. The putty cools pretty quickly. You'll need it hot to get a good ear mold.
(4) When adding putty to earpiece, Make sure you leave enough room around the foam plugs so the "stem" of the plug is accessible to replace plugs when they wear out.
(5) If you don’t like the fit, simply re-mold. You can use a hot spoon pushed against part of the plug to tweak the mold/fit.

I really like the finished product. Comfy. The seal is great and no problems wearing all day.

I’ll bet they’re nowhere as good as the ESPs or other high-end plugs. I may end up there eventually, but this is an intermediate $$ solution.

Hope this is helpful!

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Exposure to high decibel sound at work and home are major contributors to hearing loss. Loud music is another - maybe the largest contributor ?

Only mention this (I suppose obvious) because you need to curtail all loud noise exposure on what is typically a progressive "disease".
 
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I suppose I am lucky ... I still hear the higher frequency sounds that mostly teens can still hear.

I shoot recreationally ... alot. Ear plugs work well. I hate muffs when shooting ... even though muffs are what works the best at total decibel reduction.
 
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