Silencers 101
How a Suppressor Helps Prevent permanent hearing damage
As you may have guessed, we’re in the hearing protection game. Aside from the business side of things, Silencer Central is about one thing – making hunting and the shooting sports safer for all involved. We do so, of course, by making it easier for you to get a suppressor for your firearms. Have you ever wondered why it is that your ears ring and even hurt after you shoot without hearing protection? Let’s have a discussion about how suppressors are great tools for helping in preventing permanent hearing damage.
Decibels
Going by the Meriam-Webster dictionary definition, the common unit we use for measuring the relative intensities of sound is the decibel. The decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning a sound with an intensity that is twice that of a reference sound corresponds to an increase of little more than three decibels.
For reference, the logarithm starts at zero decibels where the intensity of the least perceptible sound, which is the threshold of hearing, means there is no sound. With this scale, a 10-decibel sound is 10 times the intensity of the reference sound and a 20-decibel sound is 100 times the reference intensity, and so on. More on this in a bit.
For firearms, the average sound of a gunshot is in the 120-140 decibel range. Of course, this all depends upon some variables like ammunition, caliber, and the firearm itself. A .22lr rifle isn’t going to be as loud as a .375 H&H. There are a few other things to consider, too, like environmental concerns. When we get to discussing the sound barrier, you’ll see what I mean.
The mysterious ear
We kind of take our ears for granted, don’t we? After all, we tend to abuse them far more often than we should, mostly by exposing them to loud, damaging noises. If you are a music lover, chances are good that you’ve suffered some hearing loss. It gets kind of tricky when determining how and why hearing loss happens, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDOCD).
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) affects just about everyone. Very loud noises can cause loss from one brief exposure. These are things like explosions and such where the decibel level reaches 160 or more. Sounds below 70 decibels, even over a long period of time are not likely to cause any hearing loss. If you think of things like a normal conversation with someone, the sound levels are normally around 60-70 decibels.
Then there is NIHL from prolonged, repeated exposure to sounds. According to NIDOCD, regular exposure to sound at 85 decibels and above can cause NIHL over time. How much time? That is different for every person because every set of ears is different. When you add in other variables, like age and health of the person, as well as sound levels and even the type of sounds being heard, it gets really difficult to determine exactly how and when you can experience some level of permanent hearing loss.
How your hearing gets damaged
Take a look at the diagram of the human ear above. NIHL happens when sound waves enter the middle and inner ear areas and cause damage to the structures, like nerve endings and the little micro-hairs that line the ear. Sound travels as an energy wave with that energy being vibrations. That’s how high-pitched sounds can break a glass, and how loud sounds can do the same just from sheer power. When this energy impacts your inner ear, the tiny nerves, hairs, and canals that are behind the drum can lose functionality, and depending upon your genetics, age, and ear health, it can be either temporary or permanent.
Since sound is a vibration measured in decibels, how does it get to the point of damage? Let’s bring in some math – Don't worry, I don’t like math either. Every decibel level multiplies the power of the sound wave. Just a 10-decibel level increase raises that amount of force by a factor of ten. The same goes in reverse. Reduce the decibel level by ten and you decrease the force of that sound wave by a factor of ten. This is where a suppressor becomes so important to hearing protection. On average, a suppressor reduces the number of decibels by an average of 30. That is a significant reduction in the destructive force of a sound wave.
Think of the sound of a gunshot as a tidal wave and your ear as your house on the shore. If you have a three-foot wave coming and you increase that power by a factor of ten, how big is the wave now? Yeah - 30 feet. While a three-foot wave won't likely damage your house much, a 30-foot wave means you’re in serious trouble. A suppressor, in this example, serves as a solid break wall that knocks that incoming wave back down to something much more manageable.
Tinnitus
Any ringing sound in your ears is generally referred to as tinnitus. That can come from two different sources. After exposure to a short, intense sound, you can experience temporary hearing loss with tinnitus. In other words, you can’t hear well, and your ears are ringing louder than being in the front row at a bell choir concert. This ringing comes from shock to the tiny hair cells inside your inner ear.
Chronic tinnitus occurs when you hear a ringing tone in your ears when there was no loud sound to begin with. It is a sign of permanent hearing loss, usually from exposure to repeated loud sounds.
Fun fact, Tinnitus was also the name of the garage band I was in from my college days, and likely a reason why I have chronic tinnitus now.
What the doctors say
The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery issued a position in November 2024 supporting suppressor use. The position endorses the use of firearm suppressors as an effective method of reducing the risk of hearing loss, especially when used in conjunction with conventional hearing protective measures, according to their website.
That position helps reinforce the fact that we’ve been shouting from the rooftops for years – Suppressors are hearing-protection devices. The endorsement also helps further breakdown the stereotype created by movies and TV shows that silencers make it possible to completely muffle the sound of a gunshot. In case you’re wondering – they don’t. Especially when you add in that there is a secondary loud sound that happens when the bullet breaks the sound barrier.
The sound barrier
This seems like a good point to discuss the sound barrier. The sound barrier is a measure of speed, in such that it is the speed of a sound wave from point A to point B. If you have dry air and a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the sound barrier is 1,125 feet per second, or 767 miles per hour. The temperature and humidity are important because they alter the air density, which affects how a wave passes through. Breaking through the sound barrier means that an object is traveling faster than the speed of sound and breaking through results in a sonic boom.
When a bullet passes through the sound barrier, like anything else, it creates that sonic boom, which is that telltale “crack” you hear. That sound comes from a sudden increase in drag as the bullet surpasses the speed of sound.
A suppressor cannot have an impact on the sound of the bullet breaking the sound barrier. Does this sonic boom damage your hearing? Usually no, simply because the sound waves are traveling away from you. Of course, subsonic ammunition negates this issue entirely.
As I said earlier, the sound barrier is also one of those pesky fact things that movies and TV tend to ignore when it comes to silencers. My wife constantly tells me to ignore this kind of thing when we are watching something.
What a suppressor does
The sound from a gunshot comes from the combustion of powder in the casing. This explosion pushes the bullet down the barrel and out of the muzzle. As the bullet passes from the muzzle, the expanding gases from the combustion escape, creating sound waves that we then hear.
A suppressor uses baffles to capture the energy from the explosion, taming the energy that travels to the ear. On average, a suppressor causes an average of a 30-decibel reduction in sound. As an example, if your firearm causes a 130-decibel sound, a suppressor makes that 100 decibels or less. As we’ve discussed earlier, that is a major decrease in the power of the sound waves hitting your inner ear.
What a suppressor doesn't do
Can we guarantee that using a suppressor will prevent hearing loss? No, we can't do that simply because the factors that go into hearing loss vary from person to person. There is no possible way anyone can say with certainty that you won't suffer hearing loss. In fact, if you use a suppressor, but do a lot of shooting, you should also use hearing protection, like muffs or ear plugs. While a suppressor does greatly reduce the amount of sound you hear, it still produces enough sound that, over time, can cause some level of hearing damage.
However, using a suppressor does help, especially when doing activities, like hunting. And there are other benefits, like recoil reduction and increases in accuracy. The "pros" outweigh the "cons" when it comes to suppressor use.
What can you do?
Hearing loss is kind of like brushing your teeth in that if you don’t take care of your teeth, you will lose them. Sure, you can get dentures, but they are never the same as your own teeth, and the cost is pretty high. The same can be said for hearing loss. You can get hearing aids, but hearing aids aren’t ever going to be as good as your natural hearing. Plus, you then have to rely on technology to be able to hear. Ever forget to charge the batteries on your phone? Imagine if you forget to charge your hearing aids.
No, the only real solution is to take measures to protect your hearing. A suppressor can help when you’re at the range and really help you when you’re hunting. I can promise that the cost of a suppressor is well worth the hearing you save.
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