Shooting in enclosed spaces and hearing damage.

[suspiciousmind]

I laugh when I see people in movies shooting inside of cars and elevators and acting like their ears don't feel like they're going to fall off. Is adrenaline a factor in this in real life?

Does anybody here LE or otherwise have experience with this? I'm just curious.

[Wingshooter]

I've shot from inside a shooting house while hunting and never remembered the noise, so I think adrenaline plays a role.

I'd like to suppress my HD guns though

[miller_man]

As much as I know it's gonna likely cause some hearing loss/damage - I have to agree, in that moment (adrenaline dump) - it is probably going to be an unnoticed event going on in your body.

[Trekbike]

As much as I know it's gonna likely cause some hearing loss/damage - I have to agree, in that moment (adrenaline dump) - it is probably going to be an unnoticed event going on in your body.

The term sometimes used is auditory exclusion.

[suspiciousmind]

How does auditory exclusion work? What is the science behind it?

Also, what is the potential of it working on nagging girlfriends? :D

But, seriously.. This is fascinating.

The adrenaline dump causes there to be no damage?

[Omega]

I can tell you that shooting from an AR from a truck had no ringing effect that I noticed and I went through a few mags worth.  It doesn't mean that no damage is occurring though, I am sure your ears still get the full effect.  I tried to keep my Peltors on as much as possible but sometimes I was just not able to.  The only time I remember actually getting ringing is when mortars or other like projectiles exploded near enough to feel the concussion.  But it went away quickly enough and according to VA nothing permanent happened :ugh:

[suspiciousmind]

Wow. This is incredible to me.

[Omega]

I think your body has many self defense capabilities, like when people can do great feats of strength like lifting cars off people.  Or when badly injured, the pain shuts off or knocks you out to keep from feeling the pain.  I have broken my leg a couple of times, and one was the femur.  While I can tell you there was pain, at first I could not feel it as long as I was still (jarring still hurt); it was not until many hours later that the full throbbing pain began.  Some say that they forget traumatic events, or at least they are fuzzy.  It may be just another way of your body protecting itself.

[gun sane]

How does auditory exclusion work? What is the science behind it?

Also, what is the potential of it working on nagging girlfriends? :D

 

Every man has a wife filter built into the auditory system that's activated by the ingestion of wedding cake, followed by champagne.  For Appalachian men, beer or shine is the catalyst.  Gunfire has been known to cause the wife filter to clog up, resulting in significant hearing loss for casual marital conversation.  It's further aggravated by the blow of a frying pan or other heavy object to the head.   [url=http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php][/url]

Edited January 26, 2015 by gun sane

[peejman]

I think your body has many self defense capabilities, like when people can do great feats of strength like lifting cars off people.  Or when badly injured, the pain shuts off or knocks you out to keep from feeling the pain.  I have broken my leg a couple of times, and one was the femur.  While I can tell you there was pain, at first I could not feel it as long as I was still (jarring still hurt); it was not until many hours later that the full throbbing pain began.  Some say that they forget traumatic events, or at least they are fuzzy.  It may be just another way of your body protecting itself.

 

 

Yep.  The brain has the capability to turn things on/off during times of extreme stress.  The nerves can "tilt" out.  Similar to why babies fall asleep when you take them to a place that's loud and/or has lots of people.  They're over stimulated and can't process all that's happening so their brain puts them to sleep as a defense mechanism. 

[owejia]

Shot a varmit out the door of my tractor cab with a 7mm mag, barrel sticking out the door, was not pleasant, will not do it again. The concusion was bad enough to make me lose my focus for a few seconds. Had to set there and wait to regain my balance.

[Chris]

Col Dave Grossman addresses this phenomenon extensively in "On Combat".

I hunt without hearing protection on my dangerous game hunts... gotta hear my PH's instruction... and I've never heard any of my shots.

That being said, I fired a 12 gauge in a hunting blind w/o ear pro... I heard that son of a *&%$! Felt like I got punched in the head.

Oh, and auditory exclusion does not protect your hearing... as the high pitched squeal in my left ear constantly attests.

[runco]

I think in life or death situation, it does not matter, otherwise probably hurts.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Even though you will not hear the shots the damage is still being done when exposed to loud noises under stressful situations.

 

Even suppressed guns in an enclosure can cause damage. Most suppressors are still loud enough to cause damage but the frequency is out of range for most humans. That is why most silencer testing is done while weighted for C rather than A. C is the frequency range for the human ear while A is a bit different. They want to be able to say it is a certain decibel to human ears even though it is louder when you take into account the frequencies outside of the human hearing range.

[Peace]

^^^ Ding! Ding! Ding!  Dolomite speaks truth.  While your body can "Switch" pathways on and off, it cannot deny, defy, or otherwise alter the laws of physics.  The cilia in your inner ear are tiny, tiny, tiny.... and ther effect of loud concussive noises on them are somewhat (sort-of) comparable to a tornador or hurricaine hitting trees.  bad things.

 

FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereocilia_(inner_ear)

 

If the inter-webs says it, it must be true.

[Peace]

... for a few years after college, I got paid to use my ears.  Even now, I put in ear plugs every. single. time. I step on an airplane.  Any loud noises = plugs.  You cannot repair hearing damage... no matter what some supplement sales-pitch says.

 

Among my peers, my ears were absolutely average or worse.  I had a lot of years growing up using shotguns, 4 wheelers, and circular saws without hearing protection. 

 

During and even long after college, for kicks sometimes we would sit around and play known frequency sine waves over the monitors to see who had the most sensitive hearing.  There are some freaks out there who have never, ever, ever heard so much as a loud fart.  Needless to say, they can hear like dogs.  I hear like an old (er than I am) man.  :)

[raildog]

I was a 13 brovo for the frist half of my Army career would only ware one ear plug so now my wife knows to not talk to me on my right side

[seez52]

fired my .357 out the window of my bathroom years ago just to see how loud it would be indoors. only did it once, was damn loud.

[Chris]

Tinnitus is fun. It's awesome to have a constant high pitched whine in your left ear. 

 

Has anyone tried the hearing aid style ear pro? Seems like something I might actually wear on a hunt.

[ttocswob]

Tinnitus is fun. It's awesome to have a constant high pitched whine in your left ear. 

 

Has anyone tried the hearing aid style ear pro? Seems like something I might actually wear on a hunt.

 

It's even more awesome in stereo.

[Grunt67]

Dolomite is right. You probably won't notice any decline in your hearing, except in extreme cases, but it will accumulate over the years.

Personally, I used to never use hearing protection when target shooting, so, that combined with bombs, firefights, grenades in "Nam,

etc., I now wear two hearing aids. Of course, age adds to the mix.

Use protection when you can, when you're young. I got too late of a start.

[Rhodewarrior]

I shot my rifle from under a tin about 10 years ago, what a mistake, my ear rang for 2 days!!

[Glenn]

I once fired a very hot hand load .357 maximum from a 10" contender with no hearing protection. It felt like somebody hit me in the head with a ball bat. My ears rang for 2 days. That and years of skill saws and really loud bands and both ears ring all the time. Also can't hear over 10,000 hz. Protect you hearing when you are young Edited February 22, 2015 by Glenn

[espacef1fan]

This has me thinking about good hear through style ear muffs.. maybe with a bluetooth/fm radio function so I can use them at work on the flightline as well

[espacef1fan]

I shot my 1911 out the back door. Once. Never again without ear pro