Ever use a set of bone conduction headphones? These sit on the temple, in front of the ear, and conduct sound waves directly through the bone of the skull. Wearing earplugs does not reduce the effectiveness of such headphones. Bone conveys sound waves exceedingly well. You can damage your hearing with bone conduction headphones, even while wearing earplugs.
The reality is that earplugs or earmuffs are not adequate for fully mitigating the harmful impulse noise of common firearms. Injury is lessened by ear protection, sure, but it is not eliminated. No amount of ear protection can prevent a sound pressure wave from being conducted to the cochlea by the skull bone. Earplugs and earmuffs limit sound passing through the auditory canal; not the skull itself.
Silencers reduce the harmful sound pressure wave before it can be conducted by bone. As such, they are much more effective at mitigating harm.
In March, 2017, the National Hearing Conservation Association’s Task Force on Prevention of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss from Firearm Noise stated that “using firearms equipped with suppressors” is one of “several strategies [that] can be employed to reduce the risk of acquiring NIHL and associated tinnitus from firearm noise exposure.
Suppressors reduce the noise of a gunshot by an average of 20 – 35 dB, which is roughly the same as earplugs or earmuffs.
This screen shot is from your own link:
Note that the “average gunshot unsuppressed” is 165 to 170 dB. Note that hearing damage starts at just 85dB.
We are wearing our ear protection, so let’s subtract 20-35dB, and we have 130 to 150dB. Definitely above the 85dB lower boundary for hearing damage. OSHA allows less than one second exposure per day at the lowest end of that range.
That’s why all three (plugs, over the ears, and a suppressor) should be used in conjunction for best results.
General industry standards that I’m used to are as follows:
-sustained noise over 84dB should use plugs/muffs
-sustained noise over 104dB should use both plugs and muffs
-peak noise over 140dB should use both plugs and muffs, regardless of average sustained noise dB. If sustained noise is over 84 then start using additional mitigation measures such as sound dampeners, barriers, distance from noise generating object, etc.
That being said, if a suppressor brings peak noise down to ~135dB you should STILL be using double ear protection. But it’s way better than bringing it down from 170dB.
I would note that 30dB muffs over 30dB plugs does not provide anything even remotely close to 60dB reduction. It’s more like 33dB, because both muffs and plugs block only noise propagated through the auditory canal. They do not block noise conducted to the cochlea by bone.
At noise levels above ~140dB, no amount of PPE is capable of reducing noise to “safe” levels.
I reject the premise of your argument.
Ever use a set of bone conduction headphones? These sit on the temple, in front of the ear, and conduct sound waves directly through the bone of the skull. Wearing earplugs does not reduce the effectiveness of such headphones. Bone conveys sound waves exceedingly well. You can damage your hearing with bone conduction headphones, even while wearing earplugs.
The reality is that earplugs or earmuffs are not adequate for fully mitigating the harmful impulse noise of common firearms. Injury is lessened by ear protection, sure, but it is not eliminated. No amount of ear protection can prevent a sound pressure wave from being conducted to the cochlea by the skull bone. Earplugs and earmuffs limit sound passing through the auditory canal; not the skull itself.
Silencers reduce the harmful sound pressure wave before it can be conducted by bone. As such, they are much more effective at mitigating harm.
Any sources to support this because I couldn’t find any. Even the ASA doesn’t make this claim.
Suppressors reduce the noise of a gunshot by an average of 20 – 35 dB, which is roughly the same as earplugs or earmuffs.
This screen shot is from your own link:
Note that the “average gunshot unsuppressed” is 165 to 170 dB. Note that hearing damage starts at just 85dB.
We are wearing our ear protection, so let’s subtract 20-35dB, and we have 130 to 150dB. Definitely above the 85dB lower boundary for hearing damage. OSHA allows less than one second exposure per day at the lowest end of that range.
That’s why all three (plugs, over the ears, and a suppressor) should be used in conjunction for best results.
General industry standards that I’m used to are as follows:
-sustained noise over 84dB should use plugs/muffs
-sustained noise over 104dB should use both plugs and muffs
-peak noise over 140dB should use both plugs and muffs, regardless of average sustained noise dB. If sustained noise is over 84 then start using additional mitigation measures such as sound dampeners, barriers, distance from noise generating object, etc.
That being said, if a suppressor brings peak noise down to ~135dB you should STILL be using double ear protection. But it’s way better than bringing it down from 170dB.
I would note that 30dB muffs over 30dB plugs does not provide anything even remotely close to 60dB reduction. It’s more like 33dB, because both muffs and plugs block only noise propagated through the auditory canal. They do not block noise conducted to the cochlea by bone.
At noise levels above ~140dB, no amount of PPE is capable of reducing noise to “safe” levels.