I am considering the purchase of electronic in-the-ear hearing protection. I cannot use ear muffs as they knock the comb of my stock. Also I do not shoot with a ball cap, but instead wear a brimmed hat for more sun protection. That said, I would appreciate your opinions on current molded hearing protection with hi-db protection that still allows me to hear normal conversations.

Mark, I've been very pleased with my ESP's. Work as advertised. Mine are older analog, which are still available. I've heard the higher priced digitals really aren't worth the extra.....dunno. Only downside I have to these types of protection is the loss of directional sound detection. Not a big deal if you're using it primarily on clays.

Mark,
I too am considering buying something.... If times were a bit better I would go the $3000 hearing aid route, but for know I am going to go with the Walker game ear. The new smaller digital ones. I have read alot of praise for them and the price is in the $500 range for two. I am just about to bit.

I don't mind muffs for clays, it is the duck hunting that has deteriorated my hearing. Having trouble with my left ear.

Jerry

I went through this process last year and I found it terribly confusing. I have nothing against ESP but they charge almost twice as much as the same exact product from a hearing aid company. Keep in mind ESP does not manufacture the product they are simply a middleman and have it made by a hearing aid company.

Go online and find a hearing aid outfit in your area that carries Westone. They have a custom molded product with a valve that cuts off loud noises and lets all other sound through. I want to say a pair cost me less than $125. They are perfect if you just want to save your hearing and you don't want gain (the ability to gain back the few db lost from having a device in your ear or to further amplify sound). The Westone product reduces your level of hearing by less than 5 db and that is not enough for you to even notice. They are also made out of a more pliable material than the ESP's.

A friend purchased the ESP analogs and used them last year and did not care for them. Given the other post it must be an individual thing. He recently purchased the Westones and he likes those.

I had a pair of custom molded digitals made (I forget the company) that were identical to ESP's that cost me $800. If you are going to use them in open prairie cover I found them lacking because of the whistling sound from the wind and it drove me nuts. The whistling noise comes from the electronics to provide gain and they are adjustable so you can turn them up but that turns up all sound including the noise of your boots hitting the ground. The idea sounded nice but was not for me. I took them back and was only charged a 10% of purchase price restocking charge. I am not sure if ESP offers this. I want to say the ESP analogs are $675 and the digitals are well north of $1,000.

If you go the digital route make sure you can return them if they drive you nuts. I know at least one company offers that and I wish I could recall which one of the major hearing aid companies it was.

Any of these products are going to bother you to some degree when you wear them or at least they bother me. I can't wait to get them out of my ears.

Good Luck,

Mike

Huh??? What'd u say Chicago??? What? A pat just flushed? What??? Ur kiddin', we all know u can't hear nuttin.

About 5-7 yrs ago, a couple guys rolled into Huron looking for a place to hunt. A local store clerk helped them to hook up with our party on a friend's farm. One of them had a high end ESP or equivalent. When we got into the corn, he came out shaking his head and fussing with the volume/gain. Finally, he gave up on them in the corn. 'Said it sounded really loud in the corn.

NRA offers a hearing aid and hearing protection program to their members, through Starkey, a big hearing aid company. I used Starkey analogs for years and liked them a lot, but they have eliminated the analogs from their offerings and are all digital now. I got a pair of digitals last year because my analogs had gotten to the point at which they were not worth repairing. I prefer the old analogs for sound quality, but my audiologist says the digitals are better for hearing protection. The NRA program offered three models, reasonable prices. Two other guys I hunt with also got them through NRA and are pleased.

I just bought Cens Proflex at the CLA game fair. Cost me £449 and they are very good a lot of pro's use them. Not sure if they are available in the US because you have to have an impression taken.

T

I purchased the Starkey digitals through the NRA program. A local cooperating hearing aid store took an impression and they fit well. The digital system seems to work very well. I find the clear plastic units which are hollow do not reduce the sound enough even if you turn them off and just wear them like regular in the ear hearing plugs.

I have been using the silicon molded in-the-ear plugs for years and they don't bother me (unless I chew gum). I have tried the electronic muffs and like the enhanced speech feature but cannot shoot with them. My main usage would be in clays shooting. I am the New Mexico Youth Shooting Program Coordinator and spend a fair amount of time judging clays competitions. It would be nice to hear conversation better, but continue to maximize muzzle blast protection. I assume that the molded silicone ear plugs offer good protection.

As I wear digital hearing aids anyway, so when shooting clay birds I just turn them off and use muffs also. When huntinding waterfowl I just turn them off when they start flying, probably not the best system, but it is what I use now.

I wear hearing protection, plugs, when hunting doves and snipe, but not when hunting turkeys and woodcock. Audiologists state that there is potential for irreversible hearing loss with continuous exposure to 80-90 decibels (dB) of noise. A 12 gauge shotgun blast is between 130-155 dBs. Some ears suffer permanent damage from one exposure to shotgun blast noise. The best hearing protectors advertise no more than 32 dB of noise reduction, but actual reduction to the ear canal may not be that high. Double protection, plugs and muffs are not purely additive because of the flesh-bone conduction. Bone and tissue conduct some of the noise to the ear canal despite protection. After protection, we are still left with about 100 dB or more noise. Have any of you with years of shooting competitively while wearing the best hearing protection you could buy, experienced hearing loss in your ear that faces the muzzle end of your shotgun?

My audiologist told me that right-handed shooters typically lose hearing in their left ear (that is my case), and lefties lose it in their right ear. You will normally lose higher frequency (3khz+) hearing as you age, and shooting just accelerates the process.

Starkey was the company I had the digitals from and they certainly stood behind their product by giving me a refund.

Popplecop:
I thought most hearing aids had built in hearing protection that closed down when there was a loud noise?

I have never seen that in a regular hearing aid, but I never wear mine, either. Gives me plausible deniability.

Pretty sure that is what the audiologist told me when I was researching digital hearing protection but maybe you have to ask for it - not sure.