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Cochlear implant gun range protection

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I have a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other. What precautions should I take at the gun range?

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This is not backed up by books but I have not had to use any noise protection with cochlear implants, bilateral. I have shot rifles, pistols and been around loud noise with no issues from this noise.

The hair cells that transmit sound to the cochlea nerve are not part of the process. Your hearing aids ear does need noise protection for sure.

Agree with @Raudrive. side should be protected in the best possible way. If your side is completely deaf without sound processor - no worries.

Otherwise, in case of any residual hearing in CI side, it should be also protected.

I highly recommend custom, thick, soft silicone earplugs that look like full shell earmolds, plus anti-noise headphones. That is the setup I used at the shooting range.

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Edited

Ask your audiologist if he/she can make an ear impression and sent it to tbe manufacturer which can make earmold from soft silicone. Tell him about the purpose of that earmold.

Independent Lab for Custom Molds? Audiologist refuses to order molds but will give me the impression
Westone made some nice custom noise protection plugs. They even have changeable filters to adjust the levels of sound impedance. WH

In reply to @Bimodal_user

This was some contract deal they had with westone, I think. The audiologist took impressions just the same as for my molds. Custom ear plugs with extra filters and fancy bag for keeping them secure came in the mail a few weeks later. They are for activities like snow blowing or lawn mowing where the engine is loud and I’m not chatting. Sometimes I use them on the motorcycle. Sometimes I use occluding IEMs to connect to a helmet mounted radio (packtalks are great!). I used to have huge jbl speakers in my helmet and tried to blast over the plugs. I bet people could hear that radio before they heard my motorcycle exhaust coming when I rocked the JBLs.

WH

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