Training without eyes and ears?

[soccerdad]

OK..pretty sure I know the answer to my question, but I'll throw it out there to let you chew me up. Given that in a defensive situation you are certain to NOT have your eye protection and ear protection, would it ever make sense to train in that 'environment'?

Just wondering if anyone has ever done it or would advocate it? You know what they say, "you play how you practice". I know that it would probably render you deaf for a while.

[glock19girl]

OK..pretty sure I know the answer to my question, but I'll throw it out there to let you chew me up. Given that in a defensive situation you are certain to NOT have your eye protection and ear protection, would it ever make sense to train in that 'environment'?

Just wondering if anyone has ever done it or would advocate it? You know what they say, "you play how you practice". I know that it would probably render you deaf for a while.

Train without ears, I know an older man at our club who didn't have his hearing aid in and spent the afternoon at the range. He didn't have hearing protection in and when he put his hearing aid in couldn't hear.
Also I've had a lot of flying hot brass come back and hit me. Wouldn't want to risk the eyes or ears. You may need them to see or hear a threat someday

[ShaulWolf]

OK..pretty sure I know the answer to my question, but I'll throw it out there to let you chew me up. Given that in a defensive situation you are certain to NOT have your eye protection and ear protection, would it ever make sense to train in that 'environment'?

Just wondering if anyone has ever done it or would advocate it? You know what they say, "you play how you practice". I know that it would probably render you deaf for a while.

Short answer: don't do it.

Long answer: While in a defensive scenario you won't have it, that doesn't mean you should train yourself without proper eye and ear protection. Training without it will open yourself up to potential eye damage from whatever source, and hearing loss is a very likely possibility. There are few people who don't lose some hearing from shooting without ear protection, and the damage tends to be permanent. This happens even with .22 LR rounds, so imagine what larger centerfire rounds can do.

This is more than enough to cancel out whatever gains you'd get from training realistically. You'll be damaging your sense of hearing, which is something needed for situational awareness and helping function in daily life. Yes, the deaf are functional, but you'll be relearning how to function without that sense, or at least with that sense degraded.

If you think the military trains in this manner, then no. Hearing protection is passed out and mandatory when we do live fire events. It's also highly encouraged when we're training with blanks. Even if we're in the pits pulling targets we're encouraged to wear hearing protection.

[Curmudgeon]

Maybe it's because I'm in my 50's and have been shooting since I was rather young, but I can easily say I've thousands of rounds downrange without any hearing protection whatsoever.

.22
30-30
12 gauge
.357 magnum
9mm
7mm Rem magnum

My hearing is very good. What do you suppose happens with our infantry, instant deafness at first shot? Although some rare cases may see a level of impairment rather quickly, there may be a number of factors at play in those rare cases. It is foolish to shoot without hearing protection under ordinary circumstances. But I think you bring up a very good point. Should some thug make a violent attempt against you snd you decide to shoot, your shots (in addition to physical damage) should shock and stun your assailant, not you. The noise and flash should not blow you away, but should be expected.

After uncorking my .357, which admittedly was unpeasantly loud, I could hear just fine. Also, it was not the .357 rounds that eent into the thousands, oh no. After one quick trip to the range withou it, hearing protection was secured!

[ShaulWolf]

Maybe it's because I'm in my 50's and have been shooting since I was rather young, but I can easily say I've thousands of rounds downrange without any hearing protection whatsoever.

.22
30-30
12 gauge
.357 magnum
9mm
7mm Rem magnum

My hearing is very good. What do you suppose happens with our infantry, instant deafness at first shot? Although some rare cases may see a level of impairment rather quickly, there may be a number of factors at play in those rare cases. It is foolish to shoot without hearing protection under ordinary circumstances. But I think you bring up a very good point. Should some thug make a violent attempt against you snd you decide to shoot, your shots (in addition to physical damage) should shock and stun your assailant, not you. The noise and flash should not blow you away, but should be expected.

After uncorking my .357, which admittedly was unpeasantly loud, I could hear just fine. Also, it was not the .357 rounds that eent into the thousands, oh no. After one quick trip to the range withou it, hearing protection was secured!

Hearing damage can be instant depending on the noise level. My ears were ringing for the rest of the day after firing one round from my dad's .357 magnum outside. Lesson learned quickly from that one.

While a .22LR won't likely cause instant noticeable hearing loss, continuous exposure will cause it for certain frequencies. It gets worse with higher levels of noise and more exposure. In any case, I don't see the juice being worth the squeeze on this one. You can still acclimate yourself to the noise and train your mind to expect it by going to the range with eye and ear protection. It won't be the full on effect, but it won't risk losing some or all of your hearing depending on what you do at the range.

[glock19girl]

Hearing damage can be instant depending on the noise level. My ears were ringing for the rest of the day after firing one round from my dad's .357 magnum outside. Lesson learned quickly from that one.

While a .22LR won't likely cause instant noticeable hearing loss, continuous exposure will cause it for certain frequencies. It gets worse with higher levels of noise and more exposure. In any case, I don't see the juice being worth the squeeze on this one. You can still acclimate yourself to the noise and train your mind to expect it by going to the range with eye and ear protection. It won't be the full on effect, but it won't risk losing some or all of your hearing depending on what you do at the range.

I shot my AR one time I forgot to put my ears on. WOW that was loud and my ears rang for a while after.
My niece and I were at a handgun class and she was up on the line with about 25 people. She came running back and said 25 guns firing at once were very loud.

[XACEX]

I shot a few rounds out of a .338 win mag with no hearing protection once.

all i could hear was a high pitched whine for a solid 10 min after. so stupid.

[EandGWZ]

I'm not condoning this activity but I try to experience at least 2-3 rounds every couple of months with my defensive weapon. My initial thought was that it would be good to see how the sound would effect my ability to shoot accurately. Like another poster suggested, the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits....so I may change this behavior.

[Shisno]

Hell my buddy's AK was bad enough with a muzzle break. And I was wearing ear plugs. My right ear (the closest ear) hurt for hours and was ringing for the rest of the day. I've also shot 1 40 S&W round without ears. That wasn't nearly as bad as the AK but I still wouldn't advocate it.

In a defensive situation I doubt you're going to be paying attention to how loud the gun is. As far as eye protection, well its a small risk. Don't worry about it.

[mosseater]

If you're going to do it to test the effect of gunfire on your ability to perform undera life-threatening event, by most accounts you're wasting your time. Most claim to not hear the gun going off or the sound being greatly diminished, like a cap gun. The fight or flight response apparently takes care of our bodies' reaction to gunfire. What you will definately be doing is slowly killing your hearing for no apparent reason. I used to hunt with my .44 without hearing protection until the first time I shot a deer and couldn't hear right for two days. I have permanent loss and constant ringing and some of it is due to gunfire. I simply don't do it anymore if I can help it. One thing Mas recommends is muffs and glasses in your safe room in the even you have time to put them on during an encounter. While you may not hear gunfire in an adrenaline-infused situation, the damage can still be done. If you think it's loud outside, inside will make your ears bleed! I shot a groundhog with a 30/30 from my bedroom window once in my younger days. Lesson one: get the muzzle out past the sill. I thought I was going to pass out. (got the hog, though)