Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hearing protection...no more muffs

I need some recommendations for what you guys are using for hearing protections. I am just not satisfied with the muffs that I have been using. I want to upgrade to an earplug or earbud. I am looking for something I can still hear with them in and then protects my hearing when I shoot. I don’t necessarily need hearing enhancement but I want to be able to hear the deer walking in the leaves, a turkey gobble or an elk bugle when I have them in. I am to a point where I feel good hearing protection is as important as good bino’s.

etymotic

Go to a hearing aid dispenser and get fitted for custom plugs.

You can have your choice of solids or sound valves-- in your case, the sound valves will be just what you need.

My first wife made me a pair of each 30 years ago, and I still use them.

As Shaman posted. Get both, the silicon solid type seems to help with the recoil vibration some and I wear these and muffs at the range. In fact you might want to get a third pair with a string or lanyard on them as they are easy to loose if not tethered. From there you are looking at prescription hearing aides and the expense gets to be considerable but worth it for some.

At only 51, I don't need hearing aides yet but I'm well on my way....do I just Google hearing aides and go to a local shop or do you go to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor?

I realize that it really isn't the "economical" choice, but I made the decision to start hunting with suppressors. That way I don't have to have anything in or over my ears and I am not left with a ringing in my ears and a day-long headache after shooting. I have about 45% loss in my left ear due to hunting and I don't want to lose any more.

If you are generally opposed to suppressors, then I concur with the others. Get a set of custom plugs. That is what I wear under my muffs when bench shooting without suppressors.

Grizzle ears work well

I've used the walkers game ear for many years, I think they have plugs or buds now that the technology has evolved but you should have a few options. I don't like the new earpiece foam at the end of the tubes though, I thought the old ones stayed put better, so might be time for me to upgrade also.

Inadequate hearing protection when you're young = tinnitus later. That's in addition to hearing loss.

I use decibullz. They work good for me. Easy to set up and are re-moldable. Not to mention cheaper than custom molded.

https://www.decibullz.com/?gclid=Cj...0Jzl8eQMjG5hk5jmvN5gXzPsGexoCdgIQAvD_BwE

I went through multiple pairs of walker ear types..

Finally went with Westone (biggest / oldest hearing aid maker).. Defendears and I’m happy.

the issue with walkers are you can turn them up so high they actually hurt your ears, Westone don’t allow that BS, and hearing specialists actually sell them vs. the walkers - so I used my healthcare flex spending account to pay for them... all good.


https://www.westone.com/store/defendear/defendear-digital-2

Not just the Walkers. Many of the people you see on the street with ear buds have them turned up way too high and are damaging their ears. It's easy to adjust to the loud volume and have damage without realizing it.

I ordered a set of those. Now I need to get some tattoos.

I got a pair of Magnum Ears fitted by my hearing aid guy several years ago. A little spendy but worth every penny. They reduce even the blast of a .500 S&W to the point it sounds like a gunshot on a TV set. Adjustable volume control...I’ve got the cheapest version, no bells and whistles...I highly recommend them.

I’ve been wondering about these.

Between 1998 and 2006 I used custom fitted electronic plugs with silicon rubber. I shot approx 800 field shots from a 24" 6.5x55 (hardly a big boomer). I ended up with tinnitus. Quite a lot of tinnitus.

A large amount of sound is absorbed by the bone around the ear. Muffs protect much better.

I now hunt with a foam ear plug in the left ear for unplanned deer collisions and muffs on my head ready to deploy on spot and stalk. The key is I use a suppressor.

Bird song etc is precious to me. Please learn from my experience and use muffs for range at least

The Decibullz didn't work for me. The formed plastic is rock hard and by the time I get them in my ears, they already hurt. I'm sure if I were tougher, they would be fine, but I'm very sensitive.

33 NRR Foam Ear Plugs

Cheap, plentiful, no bulk, lightweight. If you lose them you aint lost nothing.

I put one in the left ear & leave it there. I tie a corded pair on my right collar & shove one into the right ear at target acquisition.

This, we shot a LOT more than he did about the same years. Tune of up to 20K shots a year from the AR15 and at matches up to maybe almost 2000 shooters at Perry at times.

expensive, so to speak custom molded fitted plugs. Worked wonders. Knocked down sound to us better than muffs.

Not using muffs got us though, the bone absorbs and while we thought we were doing the better thing, we should have been using muffs.

I use electronic ones of some brand now, maybe the ear walker or whatever they are called, that used to be advertised back of the outdoor mags all the time. They are nice.

Suppressors are even better.

FWIW we toss cords away, had corded plugs in once at Perry, and as a rapid fire string started my jacket grabbed the cord and yanked a plug loose... I had to shoot the string without that one plug. It was MISERABLE>

C-Roy:
Buy the red-orange ear plugs from Howard Leight Company, roll them to a point, and insert-press them fully into the ear canal up to the rim ...don't worry, they do come out. Sometimes a second re-push after 3 minutes and then they stay put. Cost is $3.00 for 3-4 pairs from Natchez Shooters and other vendors. A pair will last more than a year, washable, etc. Nothing not to like, they work great!