Have longstanding sensorineural hearing loss: some from childhood illness - most from noise exposure. The degree of impairment shooters suffer varies. However, as it worsens the curve gets steep, ie., each successive loss of capacity results in much greater disability. The noise of even one CF round would mess me up for nearly a year. That's what happened last time, anyway, and am not about to repeat.
So there is no driving into any shooting range without muffs or plugs on. And when I'm shooting both plugs and electronic muffs are SOP.
The inexpensive Howard Leights are very popular at the clubs. They work nicely for rifle, pistol, and clay target shooting. When I'm teaching pistol I wear them without plugs, because sound intensity decrements as inverse square of distance.
Bought a set of MSA-Sordins. Fidelity is much higher, and they are comfortable enough to be worn all day. I use them exclusively for hunting. And they allow me to fire braked rifles from our blinds out back. They cannot restore my direction sense, so grouse/woodcock hunting is no longer possible for me.
