What, if anything, do modern armies do to protect combatants' hearing?

Guns=loud.
Explosions=loud.
Etc.

Do modern armies provide any sort of ear protection? Can people be effectively deafened immediately by combat? Are the risks mostly long-term? Anything else worth mentioning?

I have a pair of pretty damn near earplugs used by artillerymen. You stick em in your ears, and you can hear conversations, but when the big boom happens, there’s a tiny flap inside that closes to protect the soldier’s hearing.

More than you might think. Earplugs are always used on rifle and pistol ranges, either the cheapo foam type or fitted color-coded ones. The helmets tanker and aviators use carry their microphones and ear-protecting headsets.

Usually earplugs are carried somewhere on the uniform, to encourage their use.

Why do all this? When I retired I had to take an audiogram. I was told half of all retiring soldiers have high-frequency hearing loss.

Lots of disability pensions add up.

The Navy is also very agressive about protecting hearing. It’s not just in combat, either. Routine operations on flight lines, carrier decks, engine rooms, or machine shops can all be damaging to hearing.

After only a five year enlistment, there was a noticeable shift on my audiogram. I figure is was caused by listening to high-frequency static on radiotelephone circuits during that time. It almost held up my release, due to the need to document it some more for a possible disability claim.

In the end, though, it didn’t turn out to be that severe a hearing loss. It may turn out that I’ll nead hearing aids sooner than most folks, though.