Hi my name is John O'Connor, I am a father, outdoorsman and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in hearing loss.  My father and grandfathers, who are and were all hunters, are affected by hearing loss.  I feel that there is a general lack of understanding around the issue and it is our job to spread awareness where we can. Check out my new blog at bloggingwjohno.blogspot.com!

How You Can Prevent Hearing Loss Even When Hunting



Before you go hunting with your relatives or friends, you need to consider what you are going to do to prevent hearing loss.  For many longtime hunters, they are experiencing severe hearing loss later on in their lives due to excessive gunfire. My father who has been hunting for many years is one of these people who’s hearing has slowly decreased through out the years.  Now in his late 70’s he is severely affected by hearing loss and uses a hearing aid in order to help amplify sounds and increase his hearing. Even with his hearing loss he still makes sure to get out and hunt and hit the range but always remembers to bring the proper hearing protection with him. It may seem normal to go hunting without ear protection, but this is simply not responsible and should not be done on a regular basis.  Noise-induced hearing loss happens over an extended period of time and could drastically affect the way you live your life.  Knowing how hearing loss is caused by hunting and what you can do to prevent it will improve your quality of well-being.


The main reason hunting and hearing loss are directly related is because of gunfire. Gunfire is extremely loud and can damage the eardrum dramatically.  Without ear protection, even one shot from your gun can perforate the eardrum and cause hearing loss.  When done over a longer period of time, you are looking at a life that is void of hearing.  Preventing this loss can be a lot easier than you might think and could save the quality of your life later on.



Using hearing protection does not have to be expensive or take the fun out of hunting for you.  Hearing protection might actually enable you to enjoy the sport a little more because you are not constantly dealing with ringing in the ears or temporary deafness after firing your gun.  For group members, hearing protection will allow them to join you without risking their own safety.  You should put a lot more emphasis onto your hearing and the hearing of your hunting party than what you are used to doing.  There is nothing more frustrating than losing your hearing and knowing that it could have been completely prevented earlier on in life.



There are several forms of hearing protection that happen to be available to you. You want to choose hearing protection that is comfortable to wear so that you can use it for hours at a time.  You should also choose a product that is effective and convenient so that you will actually benefit from wearing it.  If the product is not convenient, you will find yourself forgetting to pack it before going hunting or you may simply leave it in your backpack while hunting game.  It is always best to wear the hearing protection before you actually go out into the wilderness to begin hunting.  This ensures that you do not get side tracked and forget to use the proper hearing protection.


Hearing loss does not have to be something that every hunter deals with.  Despite the fact that you are continually firing weapons, there are products out there specifically made to reduce the noise reaching the ear when using a gun. The key is to make use of these products and to find something that is comfortable and convenient to bring with you.  You will find that this helps you to make use of hearing protection before using your weapons.

Specifically made to reduce the noise reaching the ear when using a gun.  The key is to make use of these products and to find something that is comfortable and convenient to bring with you.  You will find that this helps you to make use of hearing protection before using your weapons.