Since I bought my first pair of Honeywell Impact Pro Sound Amplification Electronic Shooting Earmuffs, I can hear better, shoot better, and hear things coming while in the woods better than I ever have before.
Hunting hearing enhancement and protection is any device or pair of devices that protects your hearing while enhancing your hearing at the same time. These devices can come in the form or earplugs or earmuffs. The enhancement is achieved by a microphone or multiple mics that pick up sounds in your environment and transmits them to your ears like headphones play music.
The hearing protection is achieved by the earmuffs or earplugs by not amplifying sounds over a certain decibel level. Earmuffs fit completely over your ears, while earplugs fit inside your ears. Earplugs in general can offer a little more protection than earmuffs. The unit of measurement that is given to the level of protection is the NRR rating.
What is NRR Rating?
According to https://www.coopersafety.com/earplugs-noise-reduction NRR or Noise Reduction Rating is a measurement given to hearing protection to help you determine how well the device will protect your ears. The max NRR of a pair of earmuffs is 31 while the max NRR of a pair of earplugs is 33.
When I was in my lower 20’s, I slept with a fan on in my room at night because my ears rang so bad from shooting guns all the time and running equipment. I really punished my ears by having so much fun all the time around guns. These days I am in my lower 40’s and still try to get out at least once a week after a hog or coyote or even just to shoot.
There are basically 4 types of hearing protection to help you from having the ring and muffled hearing syndrome:
- Passive earplugs
- Active earplugs
- Passive earmuffs
- Active earmuffs
Passive earplugs are just earplugs that block out the sound. Active earplugs block out the noise while adding sound amplification to hear stuff like you would normally without earplugs.
Passive earmuffs are just earmuffs and block out the sound. These are most commonly used at shooting ranges. Active earmuffs block out the loud sounds and amplify all other sounds like you don’t have earmuffs on.
What is the difference between active and passive hearing protection?
Passive hearing protection only helps to protect your ears from the loud noise. Active hearing protection helps protect your ears from loud noise while amplifying the sounds around you. Basically, it amplifies the sounds under 100 decibels. When the decibels reach the threshold, the device shuts down the amplification until the decibels go back down beyond the threshold.
Earplugs are a soft expandable type material that you can pinch down and install in your ear canal. Most earplugs these days have the highest NRR rating. And while they protect your ears the best, they do not offer any hearing enhancement for hunting. They can also be cooler to wear in summer months than any earmuff type of protection.
Earmuffs are like a big pair of over the ear headphones that completely cover your whole ears and and have lots of padding around your ear. They provide great protection, and you see lots of these being worn in indoor shooting ranges. There are a few drawbacks of using earmuffs for hunting. If it is really hot outside and you usem, you will sweat profusely. Also they may not be water resistant and could quit working if they get wet from sweat or rain.
A few companies do make active type earplugs that actually fit in your ear like an earplug and provide protection while amplifying all other sounds. An example of one of the would be Walker’s Game Ear Bluetooth Digital Protection & Enhancement Silencer Hunting Hearing Enhancement Aids.
These earplugs are an active type earplugs that will actually connect to your phone via Bluetooth. You can use them like headphones as well.
Earplugs vs earmuffs for shooting
Both really do the job if you just want to protect your ears. Which is best for you is really up to what you like. Some people may want a small foot print of just a plug while others may want the muff.
Either way I have noticed a big difference while Why shooting with protection on my accuracy and ability to stay in my scope without moving as much. Staying in your scope after the shot is a big deal if you need to make a follow up shot or even get a bearing on where your game is going after the shot.
Active hearing protection – shooting earmuffs with microphone and sound amplification
Using active hearing protection, no matter which kind will really put you on another level as you get all the protection benefits as talked about earlier, and you get to hear stuff so much better! Most of your active hearing protection will end up being earmuffs with a microphone or multiple microphones that amplify the sound and keep the loud noises out. There are active earplugs too.
I remember the first time I used active earplugs. I paid $30 for the pair at Walmart. When I turned them on I could hear too good. The wind was howling, and I could hear coyotes off in the distance that I couldn’t even hear with my normal ears.
I have been using active protection every since and I can always hear animals coming way before anyone else can so usually I’m ready to take a shot and not surprised when something comes into view.
What could you be missing out on by not using it?
You could be missing out on hearing. Damaged hearing from shooting without protection caused my ears to ring so bad that when there was silence, the ringing drove me crazy!
Shooting AR type weapons or even rifles with compensators or brakes on them definitely increases the sound level of the report of the weapon. It’s like taking the blast noise and projecting it back towards you instead of directing it ahead and away from you.
I recommend using some type of hunting hearing protection and enhancement. Using this can help you hear better before, during, and after the shot making your hunt so much more enjoyable.