Hearing protection that kills background voices but allows steel to be heard?

[RickT]

Not asking for myself:

Has anyone found a setup (e.g., foam plugs and passive muffs) that dramatically attenuates background conversation while still permitting steel to be heard?

[DewarsH2O]

I am following this topic, interested in people's input.

 

[Sarge]

6 hours ago, RickT said:

Not asking for myself:

Has anyone found a setup (e.g., foam plugs and passive muffs) that dramatically attenuates background conversation while still permitting steel to be heard?

Are you asking as a shooter or as an RO? You will hear multiple responses to this question that go something like  this: If you are listening to see if you hit steel you are doing it all wrong. 

[zzt]

Passive hearing protection attenuates sound by the same amount (per frequency) no matter where it originates.  For SCSA I've found the 33dB Howard Leight foam ear plugs are the best.  The do attenuate evenly, but since your ears face forward you can still hear the hit on steel.

[lgh]

52 minutes ago, zzt said:

but since your ears face forward

 They actually point rearward. Just stick your finger in your ear and you'll see.

[RickT]

I'm asking for a shooter with out of this world hearing.  She is going to try 30 NRR muffs with and without foam plugs.  To add insult to injury she is shooting rimfire and some of the posts at one match have rubber dampers to prevent the 1/4" steel plates from being knocked off the hook by energetic factory rounds out of a PCC.  The rubber appears to deaden the sound a bit.  Eventually she will find a solution that shuts out all squad conversation and learn to trust her sight picture. 

[Gregg K]

AS an RO I have stopped and addressed the peanut gallery behind and kindly asked them to keep it down while the shooter is trying to concentrate. I may have said to STFU a few times .

 

Seriously though, if it's that bad that the shooter can't hear a hit on steel the RO needs to take control of the squad.

[Leezway]

I need to get me a pair of them “STFU” muffs… do they come in Camo?  So they aren’t passive? Oh I see they’re aggressive!    

Edited June 6, 2022 by Leezway
Typo

[zzt]

13 hours ago, lgh said:

 They actually point rearward. Just stick your finger in your ear and you'll see.

 

The ear canals point rearward.  The lobes point forward, an ideal configuration for hearing sounds in front of you.

[lgh]

1 hour ago, zzt said:

The lobes point forward, an ideal configuration for hearing sounds in front of you.

Completely incorrect.  We must have gone to different med schools. The ear lobes have nothing to do with hearing function. Sounds from the rear are "channeled" to the EAC (ear canal) from behind and affect the ear drums, then the ossicular chain, and finally the inner ear. I've interpreted literally tens of thousands of temporal bone studies, belonged to an ENT department, and one of my colleagues is a temporal bone surgeon. 

 

 

[PractricalUse]

Please:  this should not turn into a thread about what way the ears face.  The questions is about the hearing - not the ears.

 

[ZackJones]

If side conversations are that loud one of the RO's should ask them to hold it down. All of the hearing protection I've used other than foam plugs only kick in at a certain decibel level and I doubt anyone is talking that loud. 

 

[Gregg K]

4 hours ago, ZackJones said:

If side conversations are that loud one of the RO's should ask them to hold it down. All of the hearing protection I've used other than foam plugs only kick in at a certain decibel level and I doubt anyone is talking that loud. 

 

I think the fact that the electronic ear protection is not canceling out the loud conversations was the issue for the shooter, they want the conversations muted so they can hear the steel. I still think a talk from an RO about having respect for their fellow shooter is the solution.

[DewarsH2O]

9 hours ago, Gregg K said:

I think the fact that the electronic ear protection is not canceling out the loud conversations was the issue for the shooter, they want the conversations muted so they can hear the steel. I still think a talk from an RO about having respect for their fellow shooter is the solution.

Agree 100% with you on this.  Grew up playing golf, a sport where nobody talks or moves while another person in the group is hitting / putting.  Should be common sense.  

[Xanatos903]

The only ones I've used that attenuate well are Ops-Core Amps with NFMI plugs. They are about a $1k setup, unfortunately, but are head and shoulders above any other hearing protection out there. 

[hornetx40]

There is always going to be talking...this isn't golf...  Learn to ignore the chatter and focus on the task at hand. You can't stop the noise of shooting from the other bays on a range so why concern yourself with the talking.

Now if someone is messing with a shooter that is in the process of shooting that is really poor sportsmanship and should be dealt with through the rules.