Hearing Protection

[Vodoun daVinci]

When shooting, I have always used muffs or active hearing protection like the Howard Leight muffs. As I get deeper into precision rifle, I'm finding that my good old standby's are interfering with a good and consistent cheek weld.

Are "in the ear" stuff and protectors like foam and such comparable? Which one's are best in plugs as opposed to muffs?

What's yer choice and Thanks in Advance!

VooDoo

 

[Stoweit]

Check out the Otto in ear, got a pair and I am very impressed. So nice not have muffs on.

 

[newgunguy3]

MEGA amen on the Otto NoizeBarriers. Never going back to muffs. And I was using the MSA Sordins with gell.

 

[Sogan]

With the ottos do you guys feel that the sound reduction is as good as just the basic in ear foam plugs that do pretty well? Obviously the ottos has a lot of advantage but I’m just trying to quantify how good they suppress sound

 

[mrtoyz]

Yes as long as you get a good in the ear fit. I recommend the Comply foamies from Amazon. I found them to be much better than the one that come with them.

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

Wow...those Otto NoizeBarriers look really nice. Anybody know what the NRR rating is for those?

https://www.otto-comm.com/noizebarrier-micro

At $350 a pop they better rate better than a 32 NRR foam plug at 10 cents a pop. I get that I need to hear range commands and converse but *DaYaM!* that's a lot of money for hearing protection.

VooDoo

 

[fastfwd]

Wow...those Otto NoizeBarriers look really nice. Anybody know what the NRR rating is for those?

https://www.otto-comm.com/noizebarrier-micro

At $350 a pop they better rate better than a 32 NRR foam plug at 10 cents a pop.

... or 5 cents if you wait for a sale.

No, there's really nothing better than the foam plugs. At best, if you use the included foam earpieces or buy Comply foam earpieces, the Ottos will protect your hearing about as well as the super-cheap foam plugs -- the Otto NRR is the NRR of the earpieces.

I get that I need to hear range commands and converse but *DaYaM!* that's a lot of money for hearing protection.

Yeah, that's the only reason for using them rather than foam plugs. They actually have two modes -- in one, they let in conversation-level sound but dampen louder sound and REALLY dampen gunshots. In the other, they still dampen gunshots the same, but they AMPLIFY everything else -- I guess maybe that's good for hunting, or for double-ear-pro with passive muffs.

BTW, Ebay regularly has discount coupons for the products sold on its site -- if you wait for one, you can get the Ottos from Botach on Ebay for $300 rather than $350.

 

[culater]

When shooting, I have always used muffs or active hearing protection like the Howard Leight muffs. As I get deeper into precision rifle, I'm finding that my good old standby's are interfering with a good and consistent cheek weld.

Are "in the ear" stuff and protectors like foam and such comparable? Which one's are best in plugs as opposed to muffs?

What's yer choice and Thanks in Advance!

VooDoo

Go with Nacre Earpro with a molle mount. You can find them at eBay. I just bought one and love it. So i bought 2 more.It doesn't interfere with my cheek weld when shooting. A very neat set up. A used set will run $100 - $175. These are military grade gear. It's and active protection hearing system.

 

[Sniperwannabee]

Go with Nacre Earpro with a molle mount. You can find them at eBay. I just bought one and love it. So i bought 2 more.It doesn't interfere with my cheek weld when shooting. A very neat set up. A used set will run $100 - $175. These are military grade gear. It's and active protection hearing system.

Link or pic?

 

[fastfwd]

Link or pic?

A brochure for the current-generation commercial version of the Nacre/Honeywell QuietPro is attached. The military-surplus units you'll find on Ebay are similar, although they won't be rechargeable. As @culater says, they're military grade: very rugged (except for the eartips themselves, which of course have to be pretty delicate) and waterproof enough to survive heavy rain or being dropped into a puddle -- although if the eartips get wet and won't seal properly, the patented "verified fit" feature will notice that and require you to mess with them until they do seal.

Personally, I prefer self-contained in-ear protection like the Otto NoizeBarriers, with self-contained muffs a distant second. Systems like the QuietPro, with cables dangling from my ears to a control box, would annoy the hell out of me, especially since I'm not a soldier wearing a helmet or anything to anchor the cable and box to. And I don't need my ear pro to also be a comms headset, so it would also bug me to pay for and carry around all of the QuietPro's radio-interface functionality that I won't ever use. But that's just my personal opinion; @culater obviously feels differently, as do all the customers that Honeywell's selling the things to, so I'm sure they work well for some people.

 

[Gil P.]

I was reading about the Ottos,
The website gives two NRRs. One is 40 ad the other is 15. Does this coincide with the two modes? It sounds like they give you an NRR of 40 with the active hearing protection turned on, and an NRR of 15 with the hearing enhancement mode turned on. Is that right?

I've found regular Howard leight foam ear plugs to work the best. I use foamies with passive muffs over them. The Ottos have a higher NRR than the foamies do. According to you guys though they work just as well as the foamies.

 

[Mooncake]

I've found that the best hearing protection is made by TBAC.

 

[fastfwd]

I was reading about the Ottos,
The website gives two NRRs. One is 40 ad the other is 15. Does this coincide with the two modes? It sounds like they give you an NRR of 40 with the active hearing protection turned on, and an NRR of 15 with the hearing enhancement mode turned on. Is that right?

I don't have easy access to the Otto website at the moment, but I think those two numbers may both be for the regular non-amplified mode: For continuous loud noise like machinery or a chainsaw or something, they attenuate with a 15 NRR, and for impulse noise like gunshots they attenuate to "40".

In the amplified "hearing enhancement" mode, the Ottos only attenuate impulse noise; there is no attenuation of continuous loud noise at all.

The Ottos have a higher NRR than the foamies do. According to you guys though they work just as well as the foamies.

The Ottos cannot protect better than their foam eartips alone. The electronics can only adjust how much sound is let in through the little hole in the center of the foam, so the highest NRR is when the electronics aren't letting any extra sound in, at which point it's just the foam keeping sound out.

Typically, ear pro attenuates high frequencies better than low, so Otto's "40 NRR" may be for a particular (probably high) frequency range. The attenuation at lower frequencies would be somewhat lower -- down in the low 30s, probably.

 

[fastfwd]

I've found that the best hearing protection is made by TBAC.

Alas, some of us live where that ear pro can't be used.

 

[CUBUFF89]

Wow...those Otto NoizeBarriers look really nice. Anybody know what the NRR rating is for those?

https://www.otto-comm.com/noizebarrier-micro

At $350 a pop they better rate better than a 32 NRR foam plug at 10 cents a pop. I get that I need to hear range commands and converse but *DaYaM!* that's a lot of money for hearing protection.

VooDoo

I will say that $350 is cheap for hearing protection especially if it'll allow you to use it in all cases that involve gunfire. I have pretty advanced hearing loss and while I can't completely attribute it to being around guns I know that is partially the cause. I recently bought hearing aids and they were more than 10x the price of the NoizeBarriers. And believe me hearing aids don't restore your hearing ability to the level it once was. Loss of hearing definitely degrades the overall quality of life.

I double up on hearing protection now whenever I'm at the range. but that's at the expense of being able to verbally communicate with anyone. And I used to never wear hearing pro when I was hunting. Granted hunting involves a fewer number of shots, but hearing loss is cumulative and every time you fire a gun with no protection it's harming your hearing. The noizebarriers look like a good solution for protection but still having some hearing capability while in the field.

 

[GreenHotDog]

I use safariland in ear plugs. They allow low noise such as talking in but muffle the muzzle blast.

 

[ReaperMedic]

The Surefire in ear plugs have worked fine for me. I usually wear my Howard Leight ears, with the Surefire in my right ear only, because my cheek weld usually breaks the seal on the HL cup on my right ear.

 

[Centuriator]

Most effective hearing protection remains foam plugs, that are CORRECLY used. You roll them up and shove 'em in and the Peltors give you 33dB reduction. Plus cheap.

 

[scocoabeach]

I have tinnitus. I use foam earplugs AND MSA Sordins with Gel Pads (also have some Howard Leights with Gel). Tinnitus sucks, you can't have too much hearing protection.