Using Ear Protection When Out At The Range

One in every ten Americans suffers from hearing loss which provides challenges when he or she is trying to understand what others are saying. The reason for this is exposure to too much noise. Most of these Americans, you will find, were once participants in shooting firearms, often without any type of ear protection on. They exposed their ears to excessive noise that it resulted to a permanent problem with their hearing. Anyone exposed to high levels of noise can ruin their ears’ ability to hear if no effort is made to protect them from the noise.

All hunters should wear ear protection

Target shooters and hunters might not realize it, but guns can be loud. To determine how loud a gun is, you have to consider the frequency of the sound, its duration as well as its intensity. The intensity of the sound, measured in decibels (dB) tells us how loud or soft the sound really is. According to sound and hearing experts, to permanently destroy your ears’ ability to hear, you would need to expose yourself to 8 hours of continuous 85dB noise. That said, sounds that reach 130dB can instantly cause permanent hearing damage.

Therefore, what this means is that at the range, anyone within the area could develop problems with their hearing when not wearing ear protection. The reason why people may not realize that they are losing their ability to hear is because it is possible to not recognize permanent damage to your hearing for a time since it is cumulative. Keep in mind that in addition to being gradual, hearing loss will not cause you any pain. This is why it might take you a while to realize that it is happening.

The majority of people think losing the ability to hear happens the same way you would turn down the volume of your radio. This is, however, not the case. Instead, loud noise punches holes in your hearing. These holes create gaps in your hearing spectrum. And unlike what many people think, the human ear does not get acclimatized to noise. It has no ability to become tougher when faced with louder noises. It simply stops working.

There are various protective gears you can use to keep your ears safe while at the range. These include earmuffs and earplugs. Nearly all shooting ranges provide their customers with ear protection gear. You can also buy different types of ear protection yourself, including headsets and reusable ear plugs. You can buy these reusable plugs for anything between $5 and $15.