Home defense and hearing considerations

[PolePosition]

Do you guys consider the ability or disability to hear when selecting your "go-to" weapon for home defense? I've been going back and forth about whether a handgun, shotgun, or .22lr converted rifle would be the ideal weapon for home defense. When shooting indoors, I think that the ability to hear is a pretty valuable asset. Many people argue that stopping power is king, but if you are temporarily deafened by shooting your unsuppressed AR inside a hallway or small room, how are you going to be able to hear other intruders or efficiently locate your loved ones who may be in hiding?

 

Is this flawed thinking? For those that have shot at intruders inside your home or have been in shoot house training without earpro, what are your thoughts? 

[Guest bkelm18]

A .22? I'll take potential hearing loss if it means stopping power. I'll stake my life on a 12 gauge. Not on a .22.

[Pain103]

You don't know how your hearing or other senses are going to react. You may be able to hear over the blast or not. Your adrenaline will be pumping so much it depends on how your own body reacts. Also shooting inside is going to make any weapon louder than shooting outside. I don't change caliber for inside the home versus outside. I use the same two pistols I carry daily.

[Will H]

I think you will find most people have little to no consideration for acute hearing loss.  Other concerns seem more important to folks.  

 

My great uncle shot an intruder coming thru his bedroom window with a snub nose .44 magnum back in the early 90's and it did cause him some permanent hearing damage, but he is alive, and not deaf.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Could command the intruder, "Halt right there til I fetch the earmuffs!" :)

 

Tis painful to me shooting a pistol outside without hearing protection. Inside would hurt.

[Guest XD_TN]

I do not take it into consideration at all.  I may suffer permanent hearing loss, but that is a risk I will take to avoid permanent life loss.

 

I will not use my 22lr if someone enters my home.  That would be loud inside as it is.  They get to meet Mr. 12 Gauge and his 00buck /Slug children.  The 12 gauge has a 40 caliber sibling who is also at the ready with 12+1 loaded up.  Both of these may render me deaf, but thats better than what the recipient would get. 

 

Flash blindness would be a bigger concern in my opinion, than hearing loss.  As already mentioned, never know how the adrenaline would change the side effects as it is. 

 

As for hearing loved ones, I imagine you know the layout of the home better than the invader.  That should be to your advantage.

[Trekbike]

This article may be of interest.   i also watched a video of Massad Ayoob talk about Auditory Exclusion and it was very interesting.   

 

http://www.atlanticsignal.com/mh3/pages/tpoae.html

[LagerHead]

All dead intruders are 100% deaf. 

[Chucktshoes]

I would think that making it habit to grab your e-muffs would be beneficial on multiple levels. Besides the obvious ear protection they would provide, turning up the volume may help you hear sounds that you might otherwise miss. Of course all that is dependent upon you remembering to put them on if woken up in the middle of the night. Regardless, I am going for firepower over possible hearing risks, that's why my go to gun at night is my AR.

[Lumber_Jack]

Auditory exclusion is just your minds perception of the sound. Actual hearing loss can still occur.

Is it a concern enough to not shoot an intruder? Hell no!!! I'd go deaf to protect my family, without a doubt.

But I do thing making considerations for self concision are important. Like shooting a short barrel 5.56 in your hallway could render you disoriented from the blast. I wouldn't go as far as shooting a .22. Pistol Calibers and shotguns should be safe assuming its not continuous fire.

Side note: I was given a .41mag by my father. Itching to shoot it and not having all the proper gear, I just went out in the woods and fired a round. The blast gave me and instant pounding headache and nausea. I emptied the other 5 rounds I had loaded and went home. Took me several hours and ibuprofen to fell 100% again

[TMF]

[quote name="Lester Weevils" post="876823" timestamp="1357428405"]   Tis painful to me shooting a pistol outside without hearing protection. Inside would hurt.[/quote] No it won't, I promise.

[TMF]

[quote name="Lumber_Jack" post="877070" timestamp="1357446859"]Auditory exclusion is just your minds perception of the sound. Actual hearing loss can still occur. Is it a concern enough to not shoot an intruder? Hell no!!! I'd go deaf to protect my family, without a doubt. [/quote] I'll agree with this. I've fired my M4 inside a house in which several other rifles were being fired with no earpro in. I don't recall any pain or anything like that. Of course, I have real bad tinnitus, but I wouldn't attribute it to one occasion alone. I'm sure if you have the once in 20 lifetime experience of shooting an intruder inside your home you will be fine without earpro. This is one of those things I wouldn't sweat.

[Wyldk2]

I really hope i never have to deal with an intruder in my house. Now I know some are going to say something against this, but would it be alright to have my pump action shotgun with rounds in the tube, yet none in the chamber, If i give the break-in-ee a chance to leave peacefully once he has heard me rack a round in?

 

That would be a way to reduce hearing loss ( if only the thieves were that smart to turn and leave once they hear the dreaded sound of a shotgun being racked).

 

I know the ammount one hears within each house is different, just giving an idea.

[billyscott]

I've thought about this myself. The temporary loss of hearing after firing a weapon without protection.

Silencer on the home protection weapon?

[TMF]

[quote name="billyscott" post="877116" timestamp="1357451449"]I've thought about this myself. The temporary loss of hearing after firing a weapon without protection. Silencer on the home protection weapon?[/quote] Shooting indoors w/o earpro is much different when you're doing it to survive versus shooting at TVs the way Elvis did. Your adrenaline will keep you from noticing. You shouldn't have any temporary or permanent loss of hearing unless you're using a .50 BMG for home protection. The only time I've had temporary damage was when an AK was fired with the muzzle only a few inches from my ear. Even then, I didn't experience pain during the event, but did suffer some temporary reduction in hearing.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Shooting indoors w/o earpro is much different when you're doing it to survive versus shooting at TVs the way Elvis did. Your adrenaline will keep you from noticing. You shouldn't have any temporary or permanent loss of hearing unless you're using a .50 BMG for home protection. The only time I've had temporary damage was when an AK was fired with the muzzle only a few inches from my ear. Even then, I didn't experience pain during the event, but did suffer some temporary reduction in hearing.

 

Thanks TMF

 

In that 1 lifetime in 20 when necessary, one would of course pull the trigger even if painful. But maybe "relatively young" ears would be more resilient. My ears are fatigued by rock'n'roll, though I started carefully protecting them around age 40. Over age 60, I can still hear up above 12KHz which ain't bad for the advanced age, but in advanced age often one becomes not only less sensitive to quiet sounds, but MORE pain-sensitive to loud sounds. It can be painful and disorienting, even outside. I'd not much worry one way or t'other about permanent threshold shift, compared to the alternative, but it WOULD be painful and disorienting. :)

[TMF]

[quote name="Lester Weevils" post="877129" timestamp="1357454539"]Thanks TMF   but in advanced age often one becomes not only less sensitive to quiet sounds, but MORE pain-sensitive to loud sounds. It can be painful and disorienting, even outside. [/quote] ...especially when it is the awful music of today's generation.... hurts my ears too!

[Dolomite_supafly]

I've thought about this myself. The temporary loss of hearing after firing a weapon without protection.

Silencer on the home protection weapon?

You will be demonized by an attorney if you used a suppressor when shooting someone in self defense.

 

For the longest time I kept a set of noise enhancing hearing protection with my SD gun. They were stereo and enhanced sounds up to 85 dB. After that it muted. It was a PITA to put them on and turn them o0n in a hurry all while grabbing a gun. Since then I went from a 223 rifle to a 9mm rifle, 12 gauge and several pistols. I feel comfortable with all of them as a SD gun. The noise levels inside a house are going to be bad but no where near what a 223 indoors is going to be.

 

I have found that shooting rifle calibers indoors or in close proximity to flat surfaces disorients me. Even with hearing protection the blast forces me to close my eyes temporarily. And with muffs you still have a certain amount of temporary hearing lose when shooting around flat surfaces. The only cure is to use foam earplugs and who has time to do that when in a SD situation. That is why I went with stuff that will have less of a muzzle blast.

 

If I had to pick one gun to keep for SD it would be our 9mm carbine. It is quiet enough to not cause pain or even ringing that lasts more than a minute. With the longer barrel it tames the blast to nothing. And with the longer barrel the 9mm rounds have 357 magnum performance. And it is a blowback gun so it it the epitomy of reliable. I can shoot heavy slow bullets as well as super +P+ ammo equally well. And ANYONE, no matter how small, can handle the recoil of a 9mm in a rifle.

 

The less you have to do under stress the better.

 

Dolomite

[PolePosition]

Lots of interesting perspectives, including the article from Massad.

 

Dolomite - What 9mm carbine are you using? I've toyed with the idea of getting one, but never really researched into it. 

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I keep the electronic muffs in the range bag, but maybe ought to keep em on the bed stand. If one did have a little time in an emergency, wouldn't hurt anything to don the muffs. Hadn't thought about it, but if amplifying muffs let one hear conversations all the way down on the other end of the range, then maybe amplifying stereo muffs could be an advantage if woken up by something that went bump in the night? If somebody really was in the house, it might make it easier to hear them?

[Makiaveli]

I keep the electronic muffs in the range bag, but maybe ought to keep em on the bed stand. If one did have a little time in an emergency, wouldn't hurt anything to don the muffs. Hadn't thought about it, but if amplifying muffs let one hear conversations all the way down on the other end of the range, then maybe amplifying stereo muffs could be an advantage if woken up by something that went bump in the night? If somebody really was in the house, it might make it easier to hear them?

 

Sounds good to me. ;)

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Maybe the ideal home defense accessory would be a combination tin foil hat, amplifying muffs, and Gen V night vision glasses? Install a power kill switch by the bed so you can put the house in total darkness when woken up by something gone bump in the night? :)

[EastHipster]

Adrenaline will NOT keep you from having hearing loss.
Permanent or temporary.

That said...I don't keep my electronic earmuffs on the night stand,

[TMF]

[quote name="EastHipster" post="878719" timestamp="1357623035"]Adrenaline will NOT keep you from having hearing loss. Permanent or temporary. That said...I don't keep my electronic earmuffs on the night stand,[/quote] No one said it would.

[Romad7]

9mm AR I built. Nothing special.
 
It has a 16" barrel that I thinned to reduce weight. It has a 12" Rainier rail to free float the barrel. Magpul sights and AFG. A off brand stock and a Surefire light in a cheap aluminum holder.
 
It has over 8K rounds through it and other than a few types of HP's it is dead nuts relliable. I keept a 20 round mag loaded with FTX rounds and FMJ's. The other 32 round mags are loaded with FMJ's.
 
Dolomite

I am considering a 9mm AR build when things calm down. I am assuming that the effective range over my G17 would be considerable, what would you say the effective range of your 9mm AR is. Would you feel confident in using it to take down bad guys at 150-200 yards?

Back on topic, I had a guy fire off a few shots from his M4 a few feet from my head without hearing loss or pain. I have fired my 12 gauge without ear pro once, that definitely rung my bell but no permanent damage. I would feel confident using either type weapon for HD without ear pro but would prefer a 9mm so that I could fire multiple times and still retain a higher amount of hearing for SA. A 9mm in a house should be plenty for taking out bad guys in a house even if I have to pull the trigger a couple more times.