USCCA Electronic Muffs

It does help let you know that they will not give you enough protection. From what I was told by a manufacturer the DB level should be 31 DBS The ear balls posted show a DB rated well below a good starting protection level for firearms.
Understanding DBS is a little tricky. I’m only saying what I was told. I will start rechecking. Let me know if you come up with the same info. Yep: that dint take to long, check it out.

:us::us::us:L

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Thanks for posting those pics as they helped me to make a decision. I ended up ordering the Walker’s Razors. I wear glasses and don’t care about a case so $39 for the Razor’s made more sense. I wonder why they don’t offer just the muffs at a lesser price?

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You will need ear plugs with your new ear balls because they do not meet safe hearing level protection from gun fire. Check it out for yourself. ( DB Rating ). These are only rated @ 23 DBS. A SAFE STARTING LEVEL SHOULD BE @ 30 DBS.
:us::us::us:
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Doesn’t mater who’s makes them. The DB Rating is substandard for protecting your hearing from gunfire DB Levels. Check up on it for your self… HUH,HUH…
The DB RATING SHOOD BE @ 31 DBS for adequate hearing protection. These are rated @ 23 DBS. CHECK THE DB RATING be-for you buy ear balls. Only tying to help.

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I bought Walker cases for both my pairs of Razors at Sportsmans Warehouse for $12 each.

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Thanks for the information brother @Blacky and I will look into it. :+1::+1:

Walker Electric Ear Pro is also 23 DBS:

https://www.walkersgameear.com/razor-slim-electronic-ear-muff/
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@Blacky CC: @USCCA
I don’t have any opinion on the USCCA branded muffs specifically, but be careful when solely looking at the NRR number. That should give you an approximate idea of relative performance, but doesn’t tell nearly the whole story.

That NRR rating on the box of every ear protection is calculated according to their performance across a range of frequencies and the average performance is what gets listed on the box. The specs are ANSI S3.19-1974 (older) or ANSI/ASA S12.6-2016 (newer) and is tested at 9 (?) different frequencies across the spectrum of typical human hearing (20hz-20khz). Firearm noise is across a fairly narrow stretch of frequencies, so most firearms-targeted ear protection is optimized for that specific range of frequencies which isn’t always reflected in the official NRR measurement that gets put on the box. Getting the full results of that testing from any manufacturer is like pulling teeth, but for the few that you can find online, you’ll see they have higher NRR at firearm/gunshot frequencies. I honestly don’t know why manufacturers don’t make this info more readily available.

A very specific example is the MSA Sordin/Supreme series of ear protection. Highly regarded among special ops door-kickers, LEO/MIL, and costing ~$300 they are widely considered pretty much “the best” ear protection you can get… and their NRR is 18db. But if you google around (a lot) you can find their results and you’ll see in the typical gunshot frequencies they rate almost 30db NRR, but lower (non-gunshot) frequencies, like typical human speech frequencies, they are in the teens. The average comes out around 18db NRR.

Additionally, NRR does not directly mean “subtract this number from the noise”, there is some fuzzy math that approximates the sound reduction. It is (NRR - 7) / 2 = reduction , so 22NRR is actually (22-7) / 2 = 7.5db reduced. Another interesting tidbit is if you double up on protection you do not sum the two NRRs. You simply add 5 to the higher NRR value. NRR values only go from 0-33.

I’m not aware of any electronic ear protection that is rated at 30db NRR or higher, most are in the low 20s. The only way to get 30db NRR+ on the box is with foamies and non-electronic muffs. Even doubling up typically won’t get you to 30db NRR.

Again, I’m not saying that the USCCA branded ear pro is good or not (I have no idea). But NRR ratings on the box can be misleading, in both positive and negative directions.

@USCCA seeing as these were manufactured for you, is there a way you can get the spec sheet for the full NRR testing? Knowing how these perform at various frequencies would be very helpful for those of us looking for that kind of data. It would look something like the below:
image

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You can actually get the Razors on Amazon for $39.

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So is this information incorrect.

Its not incorrect, its just incomplete.

Here is where is it correct

Lets go with a typical firearm is in the 150-160db range, and 140db is generally considered the threshold for “safe” hearing levels for short duration noise (those numbers are from memory so may be off a bit).

If you have something that is rated 30db NRR, your actual noise reduction is:
(NRR - 7) / 2 = reduction
(30 - 7) / 2 = 11.5

So if the firearm is 150db, then 30db NRR will reduce that noise by 11.5db, which means your ear gets 138.5 which falls under the “safe” threshold of 140db.

Note that if you double up on ear pro, lets say with foamies at 30db NRR and ear muffs at 22db NRR. You do add 5 to the higher of the two, and then do the same math. So that would be:

(35 - 7) / 2 = 14

** there are variables here like the firearm itself (some are louder that others), how close you are to the noise, is it indoors/outdoors, etc, etc.

Here is where is it incomplete

The NRR rating on the box is an average of the NRR across different frequencies. So because the box says it reduces 22db NRR, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t block 30db NRR in the frequencies where a firearm makes its noise.

Using the Sordin’s as an example above (only because its one of the few I can find data on), it has great NRR in the frequencies above 1khz which is where firearms make the majority of their noise, but it doesn’t block lower frequencies well at all. So it has a low NRR listed on the box (the average), but it performs exceptionally well in frequencies that gun owners care about.

Where regular consumers like you and I are at a disadvantage is that NRR info is absurdly difficult to find. I don’t know why. It makes it difficult to make an informed decision. The best we can do is use other people’s reviews and perceptions as to how well they perform.

This type of data isn’t just important to gun owners. If you work in a factory, you want to make sure your hearing protection works in the frequencies of the machinery you are surrounded by.

Think of it like EPA gas mileage numbers. They list city, highway, and combined. But what if car dealers only showed you the combined MPG. If you drove exclusively in the city and bumper to bumper traffic that number would not be very useful to you at all, and quite misleading if that was the only number you were given.

Conclusion (sorta)
It’s not that we shouldn’t use the NRR on the box as a guideline. It is often the only metric we have for comparison across different models/brands of hearing protection. But we need to be aware that figure doesn’t tell the whole story. Getting people’s actual experience and perceptions of various brands of hearing protection is often the only way we know if they are good or not, but that isn’t great either as it’s very subjective.

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Why would USCCA order ear protection that’s has a questionable level of hearing protection.

. No offense but the posted level for the USCCA EAR MUFFS IS SUBSTANDARD.
WHEN IN FACT WITH Repeated use WILL
( not may) cause a hearing loss. …??
I think we beat this dead Horse enough.

Maybe when I get a chance I will try to talk to Walker again. They explained that ear protection from firearms should start @ 30 DB. I TOOK HIS WORD & was concerned for our USCCA MEMBERS. I think these conversations give us a better understand of ear protection. PS : HOPE TO HEAR FORM YOU SOON .:hear_no_evil::hear_no_evil:

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Walker lied to you then… The razor is only 23db NR, and the patriot is 22db advertised… If the standard is actually 30db, Walker’s are ■■■■ too…


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I don’t personally own the USCCA muffs, but they seem on par with walker, so what is the big deal?

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Didn’t say what brand I had. I called Walker for tech. Info. Thanks
:us:

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The big deal is everybody beating a dead Horse. I’m done. Buy what ever makes everybody happy.
:us::us:

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