I have heard that Vais brakes are slightly more quiet than other brakes. The KDF (with 30 holes) is extremely loud, but reduces recoil quite a lot, too.
It does not matter if your hearing is shot. I always wear ear defenders or plugs when shooting rifles regardless of brake or not. In fact, I have a .22-caliber pistol that is quite noisy, as well as a Ruger 10/22 with a short target barrel. Both are noisy enough for me to wear plugs or ear muffs.
