Ear damage from shooting indoor without ear protection.

[Sunday]

WHAT

[locosway]

I've been in a room with a discharge, to be honest, I didn't really hear the gunshot. I haven't noticed any hearing loss since then... I think my wife sleeping with the fan on in the room every night is worse than being in that room with the discharge.

[docflash]

Hearing loss is cumulitive, it slowly degrades over time. The more loud sounds you expose yourself to, the faster it degrades. Think of it like a glass of water, its full to the top when your born. Everyday of your life, a little tiny bit evaporates. Every month of your life, your hearing is worse then it was the previous month by a tiny fraction. If you expose youself to loud noises such as music, wind, motorcycles, guns, chainsaws, pile drives, industrial machines, motors, etc. think of that as taking an eye dropper to your glass of water and sucking some out. Its going to get empty alot faster. They key is to reduce the amount of sound that hits your ears, both in volume and time. Hours a year of running your lawnmower is damaging your hearing. It may not be at a level that hurts your ears, but the long term effects of long term exposure add up. So the point, is the more hearing protection you wear, shooting or anything else, will slow down your hearing degradation. Wearing just enough protection to keep it from hurting is still doing damage. A 160 db .223 with a brake goind off next to you may be tolerable with just earplugs, but its still at a harmfull level unless you "double up" and wear muffs as well.

Great summary of what noise does to the ear. I see people all the time with noise induced hearing loss. The big problem is that is destroys hearing in the 4000 Hz range. Those are high frequency sounds that help you tell one word from another. Noise spares more of the low frequency hearing, so you end up being able to hear, but you can't understand what people are saying.

Everyone should consider wearing soft plugs under muffs.

Jeff

[Purple K]

Permanent hearing loss is very rare from one single exposure to excessive noise. Permanent hearing loss stems from repeated exposure over long term. Kids don't go deaf from tossing a few firecrackers on the 4th of July. Mechanics don't go deaf from an occasional backfiring car. They go deaf from hours of loud music and repeated use of impact guns and air ratchets.

[nrakid88]

I have been exposed to two discharges. One, Jpach thought it would be funny to take my 1911 and fire it before I had a chance to put plugs in. Thanks Joel. The second, I wanted to know what it would be like to fire my ar without plugs. Boom, then a loud ringing for a few minutes. Thanks myself.

Now I have tinitus, and have to pay attention to words more carefully, but I am sure thats more from high school dances and the few concerts I have been to. I am amazed that a public institution will allow damaging levels of noise. I really believe that our culture takes hearing for granted.

Now a days, I am very protective of my hearing. I even wear protection when vacuuming my car, or using a leaf blower. And I always double up protection when on the range. I would triple up, muffs, plugs, and can... but California has unfortunately dubbed that to be overkill. One more reason to leave.

[Mickey D]

I have discharged my Beretta 92 in the house (won't go into detail) and can say that when the adrenline is pumping, the only thing I heard was a pop. You keep moving to eliminate the threat. No perceved hearing loss or even a ring.

[sirgiles]

Because a lot of household activity can damage hearing, I often wear plugs / muffs when vacuuming, drilling, power sawing, filling up the tires with air, etc. Just makes sense to protect yourself while you can.

Turby

[guns4life]

I shot outdoors one time for 7 hours straight(with 6 other people, side by side). My ears rang for 8 days afterward...I was pretty sure it was never going to go away, but it did.

[FNH5-7]

There is no hearing protection in war.(for most)
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I like owning firearms that wont make me deaf in the event that I would have to fire them indoors or outdoors without ear protection.

My uncles .357 magnum is the loudest gun I've ever shot without ear protection. Shot the .44 magnum without ear protection aswell, same length as the .357 and the .357 was louder.

I would never carry a snub nose .357 revolver.

New Years Eve I shot without ear protection. Amazingly enough I didn't have any rings in my ears even minutes afterward, thought I would but I didn't.

[Rob454]

I had a gun go off by my ear outdoors though
My buddy thought it would be fun to wake me by shooting his rifle next to my tent. Problem was the rifle was a 30-06 and I was standing up( getting dressed) when he shot it so it literally went off about 3 feet from my head.( obviously away from the tent) To say i was pizzed would be a understatement. I took his gun and crammed it in the trailer hitch of my truck and gave it a good yank. i guess you can say that gun shot real well around corners when I got done with it. And he did not get to go hunting with me EVER AGAIN
My ears rang for days afterwards. I had slight hearing loss. I wear plugs now cause i am around a lot of noisy stuff at work. i do have some hearing loss now due to years of shooting guns, working around loud machinery etc

[FNH5-7]

I had a gun go off by my ear outdoors though
My buddy thought it would be fun to wake me by shooting his rifle next to my tent. Problem was the rifle was a 30-06 and I was standing up( getting dressed) when he shot it so it literally went off about 3 feet from my head.( obviously away from the tent) To say i was pizzed would be a understatement. I took his gun and crammed it in the trailer hitch of my truck and gave it a good yank. i guess you can say that gun shot real well around corners when I got done with it. And he did not get to go hunting with me EVER AGAIN
My ears rang for days afterwards. I had slight hearing loss. I wear plugs now cause i am around a lot of noisy stuff at work. i do have some hearing loss now due to years of shooting guns, working around loud machinery etc

Whoa, what a deuche bag. I would of done the same it's not a good idea to do practical jokes using guns.

[BamBam-31]

Typically, after exposure to very loud noise there is a temporary hearing loss that causes ringing and a sense of fullness in the ear. Once the hearing goes back to normal the ringing goes away. The hearing for that frequency is not lost forever after the single exposure. Mulitple exposures add up and cause permanent hearing loss. That said, there are very intense noises that can, in a single exposure, cause permanent damage. Whatever the case, that permanent hearing loss is usually accompanied by ringing in the ears, which is called tinnitus.

The damage is done to the cochlea, which is a tiny snail-shaped organ in the inner ear that picks up sound and sends it to the brain. Very loud blasts or one with high percussion can rupture the ear drum itself.

I'm the director of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (San Bernardino's county hospital), so you have it from the horse's mouth, as they say.

Thanks for the 411, Doc.

[mblat]

Has anyone shot an handgun in a confined room, without ear protection?
I find it hard to believe that you could ever recover from the damage to the ear drums.
I reckon that having to fire your gun in a emergency situation, in a confined space like a bedroom at home (and in the dark) would be an atrocious physical shock from the muzzle blast and noise, for anybody in the room. Especially a magnum or something in a big caliber.

Yes, twice as the matter of fact. One time 124gr +P 9mm round; other time 9mm Mac ( Hornady load I think it was ).

No problem, I don't really recall even ringing in the ears.....

That is not to say I think it is safe for your hearing to do. I also agree that magnum loads would probably have more negative effect.

That is said I would imagine that most handguns can be fired occasionaly (read one or two magazines worth) in a room without too much trouble. Think how many time cops have done that....... and most of them do not have hearing issues......

[Surf & Turf]

What about electronic noise cancelling muffs?

Typically, after exposure to very loud noise there is a temporary hearing loss that causes ringing and a sense of fullness in the ear. Once the hearing goes back to normal the ringing goes away. The hearing for that frequency is not lost forever after the single exposure. Mulitple exposures add up and cause permanent hearing loss. That said, there are very intense noises that can, in a single exposure, cause permanent damage. Whatever the case, that permanent hearing loss is usually accompanied by ringing in the ears, which is called tinnitus.

The damage is done to the cochlea, which is a tiny snail-shaped organ in the inner ear that picks up sound and sends it to the brain. Very loud blasts or one with high percussion can rupture the ear drum itself.

I'm the director of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (San Bernardino's county hospital), so you have it from the horse's mouth, as they say.

Do you work well? Which brand is found to better protect the drums? THanks.

[NSR500]

Saiga-12 + 2 rounds + confined space + no hearing protection = ear pain and ringing for almost a month.

Indoor ranges I plug+muff. Outdoors I will just use muffs, and add the plugs when shooting bigger than .308.