Gear Review -- Hearing Protectors

Unlike many European countries, we in the United States cannot easily acquire sound suppressors to protect our hearing when shooting. (Some European countries actually require sound suppressors when hunting). So, we have to use some form of ear plugs or ear muffs.

The problem with most hearing protectors is being able to hear other things when using hearing protection. Ear muffs are easy to take off, but don't work very well for me when I try to get a good cheek weld on a rifle, and they are awkward or impossible to use with a lot of hats. Most ear plugs are hard to remove and replace as needed, particularly the foam plugs.

So, during the last few months I purchased and tested a couple different types of insertable hearing protectors that offered the ability to hear conversations, but protect your hearing when a firearm is discharged.

The first one I picked up is the EarPro by Surefire, Model EP4. (As always, the Amazon link is for convenience--at the time of this post, I am not receiving compensation from Amazon or Surefire).

As you can see, the devise has a triple-flange cone that inserts into the ear canal, with an additional plastic piece that fits into conchal bowl of your ear. Because of this, the EarPro comes in different sizes, and you will want to measure the concha before buying one. As indicated on the packaging, if you have a conchal bowl of 1", you will need a medium. Obviously, if larger or smaller, you will want the large or small sizes, respectively.

Additionally, you will see from the picture that there is a little plug, or stopper, attached to device. If the stopper is inserted into its hole, it acts like any other earplug--it gives you greater hearing protection, but muffles other sounds. The packaging claims a mean 24 decibel noise protection when the stopper is in place.  It doesn't provide information as to the noise attenuation when the stopper is not in place.

The second model I tried is called the Shooter's Hearing Protectors. (The Cabela's link is for convenience only--at the time of this post, I am not receiving compensation from Cabela's or Health Enterprises, Inc., the manufacturer of the device).

As you can see, these are simply ear inserts. According to the packaging, there is hole through the center of the plug, with a small diaphragm that closes off when there is a load noise. Obviously, there is no option to stop up the hole as with the EarPro. The manufacturer claims an 18 decibel noise reduction.

As a comparison, simple foam earplugs, such as these, can provide a noise reduction of over 30 decibels.

First, in a comparison between the two, the EarPro definitely wins out on being the more comfortable to wear. The Shooter's Hearing Protectors just plain hurt after about 30 minutes, and I was glad to switch to shooting a .22 rifle just so I could take them out and be done with it. My ears hurt from the EarPro after I took them out, but that was after more than 2 hours of continuous wearing.

Second, while I didn't specifically test for this, I believe the EarPro would also be less likely to fall out of your ear if you were actively moving around just because it fits into your ear canal and conchal bowl.

Third, as to hearing a conversation or other noise, the Shooter's Hearing Protectors were definitely superior to the EarPro. Conversation seemed normal (at least from my perspective), whereas the EarPro was clearly more muffled sounding.

Finally, although this seems counter-intuitive after comparing the ability to hear conversations, the Shooter's Hearing Protectors were also seemed better than the EarPro at blocking or reducing loud noises--i.e., gunshots. Both seemed fine when I was behind the gun, doing the actual shooting; but neither was what I would describe as "good" when I was standing next to someone else shooting. With both I started putting my hands over my ears to help further protect my ears.


In short, the EarPro is more comfortable to wear, but the Shooter's Hearing Protectors are better at both allowing you to hear conversations, and reducing noise. Neither are as good as standard, cheap, foam ear plugs, when it comes to blocking noise.