Some of us like plugs.  Some of us can’t shoot unless we have our favorite muffs.  Heck, some of us like to use plugs and muffs!!  Regardless of your flavor, ensuring that your hearing is protected when involved in shooting sports is of paramount importance.  Today, we will share with you guys some essential aspects of hearing pro when shooting and offer you guys some suggestions on how to protect your ears!!

First and foremost we want to explain to you guys a little background about why hearing protection is actually needed.  Physically, our hearing will experience damage resulting from sounds that are 140 dB or louder.  Ironically, the sound that is exerted from small arms starts around 150 dB and sometimes exceed 180 dB depending on the caliber.  The part of our ears that experiences the damage is called the Stereocilia.  These little projections inside of our ears most likely resemble hairs and are there to turn vibrations entering the ear into sound that we can recognize.  Continued exposure to these extremely loud noises will undoubtedly cause hearing problems and in extreme cases cause deafness.

The shooting gear market is inundated with hearing pro options and solutions to protect shooters from hearing damage.  Although it is all on the shooter to choose what works for them, the most important aspect of selecting the correct hearing pro is fit.  The shooter should make sure that the seal around the ear canal is completely closed off to ensure that the effectiveness of the hearing pro isn’t compromised.  Keeping a tight seal is imperative and cannot be skirted.

Standard hearing pro blocks out all noise, while electronic hearing pro is used to allow conversations in but block gun-shots out.  Even more fancy…..there’s hearing pro that allows you to listen to your favorite tunes while shooting by way of a Bluetooth connection!!  If those ear muffs weren’t enough protection, there’s an entire world of hearing protection ear plugs too!!

Depending on the application, at PSA, we have a myriad of hearing pro solutions.  Take a look at some of the ways that PSA protects our hearing when we’re shooting!!

***  If you are unfamiliar with firearms and/or their accessories, and want to learn more, PSA strongly suggests that you find, enroll, and attend a comprehensive and reputable firearms safety course. Firearms safety is all of OUR responsibility.  

We want to thank you for taking out the time to stop by our lane at the shooting range!!  We hope that you enjoyed your stay and hope that you stop back by early and often to catch up on all PSA updates!  We truly hope that we were able to hit the target, and if you ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to shoot them our way!!  We look forward to shooting the breeze with you soon again!!

And as always….remember to watch your six and stay low!!!