Shooting Hearing Protection.

We have all used jimmied up earbuds  like tractor ear muffs or even a couple of 9mm bullets as hearing protection whilst firing rounds. They all work to an extent and are better than not having any ear protection for shooting. Better than nothing does not mean that they are ideal. Today we look at Osprey Scopes electronic hearing protection for shooting, how they work, and the safety aspects behind them.

What Are The Dangers Of Not Wearing Hearing Protection While Shooting?

If you are a responsible gun enthusiast, then gun safety is probably a very serious concern for you. Never point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot is the first thing you learn. Then you learn how to hold a gun, how to store a gun, and how to unload a gun safely. If you cannot do all of these things then whoever is teaching you probably won’t let you shoot said gun.

When a beginner first goes to a range we make sure they have shooting glasses, a hat, appropriate clothes, and most importantly: adequate hearing protection for shooting. If they do not have shooting hearing protection then lasting damage could occur. If you shoot a 44 mag, then that is 164 decibels of sound exploding near your ear.

To give you an example of how many decibels is too much to be near without shooting hearing protection think of this. A rock concert, which is known to cause lasting damage to people who regularly attend these events, is 110 decibels. 140 decibels is the physical pain threshold and feels like an emergency siren close by. 150 decibels can damage your hearing on a single exposure and is the same as lower caliber weapons fire or close range fireworks.

If you do not get enough ear protection for shooting then you risk short and long-term hearing loss, tinnitus, and even a burst eardrum. Play it safe and get noise-canceling ear protection for shooting.

How Much Hearing Protection Do I Need For Shooting?

Even if you don’t shoot regularly it is still worth getting high-quality ear protection for shooting. We shoot a lot using Osprey Scopes so it is extremely important to have the best hearing protection for shooting. A sad fact is that regular shooting is going to affect your hearing in the long run no matter how good your shooting hearing protection is. Even if you don’t use Osprey Scopes hearing protection, then invest in a supreme quality shooting hearing protection.

The answer to “how much hearing protection do I need for shooting?” is; as much as you can get. Earbuds are ok, but they only stop a certain amount of noise and are preferred for events like music festivals as the noise isn’t at the pain or immediate damage threshold and you can still hear conversations and music, etc. If you’re shooting with just earplugs then you are risking your hearing, no ifs buts or maybes.

Noise-canceling ear protection for shooting is the best option and there are two options available. You can get earbud-style noise-canceling ear protection for shooting and you can get earmuff noise-canceling ear protection for shooting. Osprey scopes make an excellent ear-muff noise-canceling ear protection for shooting and this is the one we recommend but not just because we work with them.

The main benefit of noise-canceling or reduction is that it actively reduces the noise that gets in. This works for both the earmuff style and the in-ear style noise canceling ear protection for shooting. The benefit of the earmuff style like Osprey Scopes makes is that you can wear Earbuds inside the noise-canceling shooting ear muffs. This increases the overall effectiveness of the osprey scopes noise canceling ear protection for shooting. You are essentially wearing 2x the shooting hearing protection.

On a side note, we do not recommend listening to music while using ear protection or any other shooting ear protection for that matter. The reason for this is that you are adding extra noise to your ears. You are already shooting, at a dangerous noise level and you are feeding more noise into your ear via your 90’s rock hits. This increases the sum amount of noise reaching your earbuds and the whole point is to reduce the amount of sound reaching your ears. It is like driving in the car with the windows down, so you turn the radio up. It increases the amount of noise in your vicinity. So get noise-canceling ear protection for shooting in the earmuff style and wear earbuds as well and leave the 90’s rock hits for the drive home.

What Is The Best Hearing Protection For Shooting?

The best hearing protection for shooting is getting something with a good Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) and a maximum decibel allowance of 90 or below. For comparison 90 decibels is a truck driving past, 85 decibels is unpleasant like a mixer and 80 decibels is about the sound of an alarm clock.

The best hearing protection for shooting is noise-canceling ear protection. This means that once the noise gets above a certain level the ear protection will cut out. It will cancel out any noise above the specified decibel. Osprey Scopes make noise-canceling ear protection that starts reducing any noise above 85 decibels. It also enhances ambient noise. This means you can have a conversation comfortably while shooting.

What is Noise Reduction Rating? (NRR)

Noise Reduction Rating is the level that your shooting hearing protection reduces the noise. Osprey Scopes’ best ear protection for shooting is the elite earmuffs. They have an NRR rating of 22 Decibels. This means that if you are near a sound of 140 decibels ( Shooting/ fireworks/ very loudspeaker) it will reduce it by 22 decibels. Couple that with ear buds worn underneath the shooting ear muffs and you will be well protected.

What Does 82DB Mean On Osprey Scopes Hearing Protection?

Osprey scopes elite shooting hearing protection earmuffs have an 82DB ambient noise rating. This essentially means that they will amplify sound up to 82 decibels. You can increase ambient sound to hear better than your regular hearing. After the noise reaches 82 DB the amplification speaker will automatically shut off and revert to the NRR. This means you can have a conversation and if a shot is fired you won’t risk hearing damage from amplification.

Review of Osprey Scopes Noise Cancelling Ear Protection:

Osprey scopes ear protection for shooting is very popular amongst our customers and representatives. As we have outlined, it is extremely important to have good ear protection for shooting. Osprey scopes Elite Ear Muffs have an effective NRR rating (22), and that if there are no batteries in the earmuffs they are still reducing noise by 22 decibels. The NRR rating is there regardless of batteries. They are also low profile, as opposed to some bulky hearing protection available for shooting. This is not only for style but it reduces the chances of knocking them off accidentally at the wrong time. They are also built with a soft adjustable leather strap making them comfortable for long days at the range.

Conclusion

Hearing protection is an absolute basic for shooting. Before you learn to breathe you should have hearing protection. That is not an exaggeration, before learning breathing techniques for long range shooting , get ear protection for shooting. The more the better. Make sure it is comfortable and low profile to make it less likely that you will remove them or knock them off your ears accidentally. Osprey scopes make excellent hearing protection for shooting. Don’t end up with ringing ears and asking for repeated sentences just because you scrimped on safety.