Hearing and firing guns

[Anders]

How quickly does hearing degrade when you fire shots in the open? In an enclosed space? How quickly does it return? In Copland, Stallone's character is very badly handicapped by someone firing a weapon next to his ear - is this realistic? How do I simulate that in a semi-realistic fashion?

[mlangsdorf]

See Tactical Shooting, p 34-35, for the effects of shooting on the shooter's hearing.

See High-Tech, 158-159, for rules on other people hearing the shot.

Being deafened by a gun going off near you is very realistic. There's a reason why all gun ranges pretty much require hearing protection while you're on them.

[Anders]

I'm a little low on cash right now, but I'll look at Tactical Shooting sometime in the future. Thanks!

[DouglasCole]

Firing fewer than 20 shots on a farm in Kansas when I was 19 or so with no hearing protection using a .22-250, my ear (right ear) was ringing for a week.

The movie HEAT has pretty realistic gun sounds, but no one actually does guns as loud as they really are, because "This is THX. The audience is now deaf."

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Firing fewer than 20 shots on a farm in Kansas when I was 19 or so with no hearing protection using a .22-250, my ear (right ear) was ringing for a week.

The movie HEAT has pretty realistic gun sounds, but no one actually does guns as loud as they really are, because "This is THX. The audience is now deaf."

Although, it's not so much the volume that makes the guns in Heat sound realistic, but the sharpness of the sound. Most movies draw gun sounds out so that everything sounds like a shotgun. Handguns making these big *boom boom boom* noises instead of sharp *bap"* noises.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

Although, it's not so much the volume that makes the guns in Heat sound realistic, but the sharpness of the sound. Most movies draw gun sounds out so that everything sounds like a shotgun. Handguns making these big *boom boom boom* noises instead of sharp *bap"* noises.

The exaggerated depth is probably used to balance the inability to accurately portray the volume. Way of the Gun has realistic gun sounds (toned down to avoid having to hand out hearing protection to the audience) and to a movie-trained ear it might seem rather weak.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Anders

How quickly does hearing degrade when you fire shots in the open? In an enclosed space? How quickly does it return? In Copland, Stallone's character is very badly handicapped by someone firing a weapon next to his ear - is this realistic? How do I simulate that in a semi-realistic fashion?

I've never had any hearing problems firing shotguns or rifles out in the field while hunting.

Once, while at the shooting range with some friends, we were trying out a new section before it was open to the public. Each bay was separated from the others by a plywood sheet, meaning that when shooting you were enclosed on two sides (as well as above and below). A single shot from that bay had my ears hurting even through my ear protection (which admittedly, wasn't the best ear protection, but had been perfectly adequate for other parts of the range).

Luke

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Firing fewer than 20 shots on a farm in Kansas when I was 19 or so with no hearing protection using a .22-250, my ear (right ear) was ringing for a week.

The movie HEAT has pretty realistic gun sounds, but no one actually does guns as loud as they really are, because "This is THX. The audience is now deaf."

I ran through 58 rounds of 12ga the other weekend in the open, and it didn't bother my hearing too much.

Enclosed spaces will make you sick though. Well, that's how I felt when shooting from a porch when I was a kid.

Edit: Personally, I find pistols to be more unerving than a shotgun. My AK was loud, but not too bad.

[weby]

I think that it depends a lot on the person, some people are bothered even with hearing protectors others do not seem to be bothered by shooting without hearing protectors. I guess it is a bell curve where most are somewhat affected.

Personally I have not noticed hearing degradation from shots nearby when without hearing protectors, but the sharp noise is somewhat uncomfortable. It has happened maybe 10-15 times in my life that someone has fired something nearby when my hearing protectors where not on.

Current electronic protectors are just nice to have as they allow normal hearing between shots and still protect the hearing.

Further funny thing is that on my .22 with the really bad baffle type sound suppressor that would likely be only counted as -1 or maximally -2 in Gurps terms, most people do not react to the sound as being too loud without any other sound protection. So a .22 is apparently only slightly too loud for most people.

[sjard]

In some ways, I'm still waiting for a movie to get an accurate long distance from the firer sound for rifle shots. That sort of odd crack, followed by a dopplering hiss that you get when you're say five miles away without much in the way to baffle the sound.

You get a different sound if there's something to baffle it (like a hill).