What Shooting Ear and Eye Protection Do You Actually Need?

You're standing in the gear aisle holding two boxes of shooting ear protection. One says NRR 22. The other says NRR 33. The 33 costs less. Now you're wondering whether the expensive one is a scam, or whether the cheap one is going to cost you your hearing.

Neither, as it happens. The number on the box is real, but it doesn't mean what most people assume it means. Once you know how it's measured, picking ear and eye protection for the range takes about five minutes.

Start with the rating. Then the part that matters more than the rating. Then glasses, which come down to one standard.

How loud is a gunshot, really?

Loud enough that one shot can do permanent damage.

A peer-reviewed review of recreational shooting noise in Seminars in Hearing puts it in numbers: peak sound levels from firearms range from about 140 to 175 dB, and most recreational firearms, apart from small-caliber .17 and .22 rifles and air rifles, generate between 150 and 165 dB.

For scale, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) says that long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dBA can cause hearing loss. A gunshot isn't long. It doesn't need to be. The same NIDCD page says extremely loud bursts of sound such as gunshots can rupture the eardrum or damage the bones in the middle ear, and that this kind of hearing loss can be immediate and permanent.

The good news is on that page too. NIDCD calls noise-induced hearing loss the only type of hearing loss that is completely preventable. You prevent it by wearing protection every single time.

What does NRR actually mean?

NRR stands for Noise Reduction Rating. It's a single number, in decibels, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires on the label of hearing protectors.

The federal labeling rule spells out what goes on that label. It has to state the NRR for that model, and it has to carry this sentence: "The range of Noise Reduction Ratings for existing hearing protectors is approximately 0 to 30 (higher numbers denote greater effectiveness)." The same section adds the phrase "(When used as directed)" at the bottom of the rating.

Hold on to that phrase. It's doing a lot of work.

Why is the number on the box higher than what you'll get?

Because it's measured in a lab, on people fitted carefully, and your ears at the range are not a lab.

Even the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) doesn't take the label at face value in some situations. In a 2021 interpretation letter, OSHA explains that its compliance staff sometimes apply a 50 percent safety factor to the laboratory-based NRR, on top of subtracting 7 dB. That's the "NRR minus 7, divided by 2" rule of thumb you'll see quoted online. Run it on an NRR 33 foam plug and you get 13.

That's an estimating shortcut built for workplace noise, not a promise about gunfire. The point it makes still holds. Plan on getting less than the box says.

There's a second wrinkle that matters for shooters specifically. The NRR test uses continuous noise, and a gunshot is an impulse. The Seminars in Hearing review notes that when products designed for impulse noise are tested that way, their NRR comes out negligible (under 10 dB) "and the consumer is left misinformed." It also says the attenuation of traditional earplugs and earmuffs tends to increase as the impulse gets louder.

So a low NRR on a shooting-specific filtered plug doesn't automatically mean it's useless, and a high NRR on a foam plug doesn't mean much if the plug isn't seated properly. Which brings us to the thing that matters more than the rating.

Does fit matter more than the rating?

Yes.

The same review is blunt about it: regardless of the style of hearing protector, the fit is critical. It also names the usual culprits. Eyeglass temples, hats, and hoods that break the seal of an earmuff reduce its mean attenuation by 5 to 15 dB.

Read that one twice if you wear glasses. The arms of your shooting glasses run right under the muff cushions.

Plugs are the same story. Canada's occupational safety agency, CCOHS, puts it plainly: the effectiveness of hearing protection is reduced greatly if the protectors do not fit, and earplugs must be properly inserted to protect you. Remember the "(When used as directed)" line from the EPA label rule. Follow the fitting directions on the package, because the rating assumes you did.

Should you wear earplugs and earmuffs together?

At an indoor range, doing both is the normal advice, and some ranges nudge you toward it.

The Clackamas County Public Safety Training Center's public range requires earmuff-style hearing protection and wrap-around eye protection or side shields, and recommends ear-plugs as backup to ear-muffs. Its reasoning is short: ejected shells are very hot, and the range is very loud.

Indoor ranges are loud for a reason beyond the gun itself. The Seminars in Hearing review notes that shooting in an enclosed, reflective, reverberant space increases the hazard to your hearing, and that shooting from a bench or over a table raises the peak level reaching your ear. You're also sharing that room with everyone else's shots.

Here's the part people get wrong. Doubling up does not add the two numbers together. An NRR 33 plug under an NRR 25 muff is not 58. OSHA's guidance is that you add 5 dB to the NRR of the more protective device when using both earplugs and muffs. Five decibels is still a worthwhile gain when the noise is a gunshot. Just know what you're buying with it.

Are electronic earmuffs enough?

Electronic muffs are a common upgrade, and the appeal is easy to see. You can hear range commands, and you can hear the person teaching you without pulling a muff off your ear.

They work by listening. The Seminars in Hearing review describes the design: electronic protectors use circuitry to restore audibility for sounds below roughly 85 dB, and limit what they play into your ear to around 82 to 85 dB.

Here's the catch. The same review explains that for impulses above about 150 dB, the electronic circuitry is too slow to respond, so the muff's passive attenuation, meaning how well it blocks sound with the electronics switched off, is what protects you from the gunshot. The electronics are there to help you hear conversation. The cup and the seal are the protection.

So a thin, low-profile electronic muff is nice for hearing instruction. Indoors, wear it over foam plugs.

What eye protection do you need?

Glasses that were built and tested as safety eyewear, not your regular sunglasses.

The standard in the U.S. is ANSI/ISEA Z87.1. OSHA's workplace rule requires that protective eye and face protection devices comply with ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 or one of the other editions of that standard it lists. That rule governs employers, not you at a public range, but it tells you which standard safety eyewear is built to.

So the buying rule is simple: get glasses the maker says meet ANSI Z87.1. Check the packaging or the spec sheet before you buy.

A few more things to look for:

Wrap-around coverage. The Clackamas County range page quoted above warns that ejected shells are very hot, and it requires wrap-around eye protection or side shields.
Clear or yellow lenses indoors. Dark lenses make a dim indoor range harder to see in.

If you wear prescription glasses, you have two routes: prescription safety glasses built to the same standard, or over-glasses safety eyewear sized to fit over your frames.

What should you skip?

A few common mistakes, all fixable:

Buying by NRR alone. A comfortable muff you wear correctly beats a high-rated one that doesn't seal over your glasses.
Assuming electronic means better protection. It means better hearing of quiet sounds. The protection comes from the passive rating and the seal.
Treating one layer as enough indoors. Plugs under muffs is the cheap, easy margin.
Wearing sunglasses. If the maker doesn't say they meet ANSI Z87.1, don't count on them.
Lifting a muff to talk. Wait for a cease-fire, or use electronic muffs so you don't have to.

What does a range require?

Each range sets its own rules, so call or check the range's page before you go. The Clackamas County range quoted above requires earmuff-style hearing protection and wrap-around eye protection or side shields, and provides the eye protection. Our piece on going to the range when you don't own a gun yet walks through what to bring and what several Portland-area ranges ask for.

Many ranges rent or sell both at the counter, so ask when you call. Renting is a perfectly good way to start.

Which should you choose?

For a first trip, you don't need to buy anything special:

Foam earplugs, fitted the way the package says.
A passive or electronic earmuff over them, especially indoors.
Wrap-around safety glasses the maker says meet ANSI Z87.1.

If you end up shooting regularly, electronic muffs are worth a look, mostly because hearing your instructor clearly makes everything else easier. Keep the foam plugs underneath for indoor sessions.

The short version

Firearms peak at about 140 to 175 dB. Gunshot hearing loss can be immediate and permanent, and it's completely preventable.
The NRR is a lab number. Expect less in real life, and expect much less if the seal is broken.
Plugs plus muffs adds about 5 dB, not the two ratings combined. Indoors, do it anyway.
Electronic muffs help you hear. The passive rating and the seal are what protect you.
For eyes, buy glasses sold as meeting ANSI Z87.1, with wrap-around coverage.

Gear is the easy part. If you want someone to walk you through a first range session, fit check included, that's what inclusive firearms training is for. Or book a training party and start there.