# Does the military use ear protection on missions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261 "2010-12-24T05:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/1 "2010-12-24T05:49:15Z")
I remember shooting an M16 equivalent and even with ear buds, it hurt after a while. Does the military use ear protection? On the one hand, you want to hear as much as possible to facilitate communications and be aware of your surroundings. On the other hand, soldiers who’ve been through a few battles must often have significant hearing loss, which can’t be good for communicaiton and awareness. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/2 "2010-12-24T06:27:06Z")
Personal preference. Issued ear protection allows for decent attenuation of the rifle firing without significantly reducing one’s ability to hear everything else. I personally carry a two sets of ear protection in my kit. A set of [these](http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=surefire+ear+protection&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3836650379089705221&ei=PjsUTdnBJMO78gb2k8yIDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=5&ved=0CDwQ8gIwBA#), and a set of [these](http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=combat+ear+plugs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10033945802827345553&ei=gTsUTYCGA8P48Aad9eXiDQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CFQQ8wIwAQ#) (issued) for back up. There hasn’t been a single fire fight where I wasn’t able to find a quick second to get them out and put them in. Yea, there is going to be some firing and explosions in the meantime. But nothing unbearable. I think adrenaline naturally attenuates the noise you are hearing as well. Something about stiffening the receptors in the ear or something. I think 90 something percent of Soldiers don’t bother with ear protection at all on missions. And yes, most Soldiers have SHITTY hearing. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/3 "2010-12-24T07:15:58Z")
Interesting story on the radio this week > **[Re-Creating The Sounds Of Combat](https://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132237832/Re-Creating-The-Sounds-Of-Combat)** > > NPR's Audie Cornish talks to Steven Grant, the Roy A. Wilkens Missouri Telecommunications Professor at Missouri Science and Technology, about his system for creating a simulated version of the sounds of a battlefield by using a huge array of speakers... ---
**Author:** ![AmunRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/4 "2010-12-24T08:06:55Z")
I was a medic, and part of my job was preventive medicine. As **Bear\_Nenno** said, it is the soldier’s personal preference whether or not to wear ear protection. I was never deployed, but I can tell you it was damn hard to get soldiers to wear hearing protection even in a training environment. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/5 "2010-12-24T08:12:08Z")
> [@AmunRa](#): > > I was a medic, and part of my job was preventive medicine. As **Bear\_Nenno** said, it is the soldier’s personal preference whether or not to wear ear protection. I was never deployed, but I can tell you it was damn hard to get soldiers to wear hearing protection even in a training environment. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/6 "2010-12-24T13:33:14Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > A set of [these](http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=surefire+ear+protection&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3836650379089705221&ei=PjsUTdnBJMO78gb2k8yIDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=5&ved=0CDwQ8gIwBA#), and a set of [these](http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=combat+ear+plugs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10033945802827345553&ei=gTsUTYCGA8P48Aad9eXiDQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CFQQ8wIwAQ#) (issued) for back up. Holy crap. Those army issued earplugs are $770 :eek: What are they made of? Is this something that is worth that price or is it expensive by virtue of being for the US military? ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/7 "2010-12-24T14:30:29Z")
Do a search for that item. It is probably for 100 pairs, though the description is not very clear. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/8 "2010-12-24T14:41:01Z")
I am not surprised it is hard to get soldiers to wear ear protection, considering how resistant most trades are to wearing them. Ear protection is great but can make communication difficult and you are not as aware of your environment while wearing. ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/9 "2010-12-24T16:44:52Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Do a search for that item. It is probably for 100 pairs, though the description is not very clear. Correct - those prices are for the 100-count box (so, ~8 bucks per pair). [Link](http://www.alexgs.com/product/ear-370-1010.html) ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/10 "2010-12-24T17:09:20Z")
> [@AmunRa](#): > > I was a medic, and part of my job was preventive medicine. As **Bear\_Nenno** said, it is the soldier’s personal preference whether or not to wear ear protection. I was never deployed, but I can tell you it was damn hard to get soldiers to wear hearing protection even in a training environment. OK, I’ve never served and I suppose it’s possible I’m wrong in nineteen different ways. But, I have a _very_ hard time believing that ear protection use is a matter of “personal preference” in a training environment. When deployed on a mission, fine, I’ll buy that. No mandatory ear plugs on a firing range? I have a hard time accepting that. The only way this makes sense to me is that by making it voluntary, it gives the Veteran’s Administration an opening to deny claims for damaged hearing. “Hey, we gave you the tools and training to protect your hearing and you chose not to wear the earplugs. Your choice, your loss.” ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/11 "2010-12-24T17:31:19Z")
It’s probably a “manly man” thing. It’s pretty much the same in the construction industry. You use your protective equipment (hearing, eyes, gloves) and the other guys think you are a wuss. “I don’t need that shit, I can take it. What are you, a wimp?” My reply was always (earplugs, as an example) “I can take it, too, if I have to, but I have these, so I don’t have to. In 20 years, I’ll still hear fine, but you’ll be wimping out with a hearing aid.” ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/12 "2010-12-24T17:58:16Z")
After nearly being hit in the eye by a racquetball (instead, it mostly caught my cheekbone, but it did turn the entire white part of my eye red and it hurt like 3 kinds of sumbitch), I say “fuck that shit” to people who think eye and ear protection are only for wusses. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/13 "2010-12-24T18:56:14Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > OK, I’ve never served and I suppose it’s possible I’m wrong in nineteen different ways. But, I have a _very_ hard time believing that ear protection use is a matter of “personal preference” in a training environment. When deployed on a mission, fine, I’ll buy that. No mandatory ear plugs on a firing range? I have a hard time accepting that. > > The only way this makes sense to me is that by making it voluntary, it gives the Veteran’s Administration an opening to deny claims for damaged hearing. > > “Hey, we gave you the tools and training to protect your hearing and you chose not to wear the earplugs. Your choice, your loss.” The only range I’ve ever been on that required it was in ROTC. In the fleet, we always brought along foamies, but it was never required that we wore them. Neither was it ever required that we wore them during training flights, which would typically entail hours of fun inside the obnoxiously loud aircraft. Hearing protection was required by the book during preflight outside of the aircraft, but not once inside. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/14 "2010-12-25T00:16:08Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > OK, I’ve never served and I suppose it’s possible I’m wrong in nineteen different ways. But, I have a _very_ hard time believing that ear protection use is a matter of “personal preference” in a training environment. When deployed on a mission, fine, I’ll buy that. No mandatory ear plugs on a firing range? I have a hard time accepting that. Nope, not mandatory. Ear protection will (should) be available for those who did not bring it, and wearing of ear protection will be put out at the Range Safety brief. But that’s about it. Each person is on his own after that. Don’t care about your hearing, go ahead and blow your ears out. Personally, I enjoy being able to hear things, and I am going to protect my ears. I even wear ear plugs inside helicopters and loud aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![AmunRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/15 "2010-12-25T08:11:14Z")
Once again my experience is in line with **Bear\_Nenno’s**. As the range medic I was the one responsible for bringing extra ear plugs for those that didn’t bring their own. When I was on a range every single soldier that went up to the firing line either showed me their ear protection, or took a disposable pair of plugs from me, but the most I could do was make them take it. I couldn’t make them use it, and no one else cared. (Actually I really didn’t have the authority to _force_ them to take it, they were just kind enough to humor me.) As for why some soldiers are resistant to wearing ear protection, **Cheshire Human’s** reason is probably as good a guess as any. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/16 "2010-12-27T06:18:41Z")
> [@SuperAbe](#): > > Correct - those prices are for the 100-count box (so, ~8 bucks per pair). [Link](http://www.alexgs.com/product/ear-370-1010.html) I got something similar to that for about $1. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/17 "2010-12-28T12:13:33Z")
Here it would undoubtedly be mandatory in training (although it wasn’t in my time) with punishment for those who refused to toe the line. They’ve paid out too much already in claims for hearing loss in recent years to find the prospect of paying in the future appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/18 "2010-12-28T18:35:26Z")
Just in case anyone here is unconvinced of the need: I can’t hear anything above 2KHz, and have been that way at least since I was in my mid-20s. Lots of unprotected shooting in my late teens. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/19 "2010-12-28T18:38:30Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > After nearly being hit in the eye by a racquetball (instead, it mostly caught my cheekbone, but it did turn the entire white part of my eye red and it hurt like 3 kinds of sumbitch), I say “fuck that shit” to people who think eye and ear protection are only for wusses. Spoken like a true wuss. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GreenHell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@GreenHell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenHell)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261/20 "2010-12-28T18:51:33Z")
Geez, how many ex-medics do we have around here? Guy testing my hearing for my exit physical: What’s your MOS? Specialist Hell: Radiographer and Combat Medic, why? GT: You have perfect hearing. We don’t see much of that. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-military-use-ear-protection-on-missions/565261.md?page=2)