HUH - I can't hear what you are saying...
I'm 46 and I need a hearing aid already.
I wear hearing protection when I shoot targets, but I don't wear hearing protection when I am grinding metal out in the shop. Almost none of my employers offered hearing protection when I worked, so the ambient noise levels of running chainsaws, electric drills, chop saws, circular saws, cement saws, cutting torches has taken out my hearing.
For the past 3 years all I hear is a constant ringing.
Low tone noise - I can hear just fine. A womans voice - forget it.
I don't think that your pistol will hurt your ears as much as the time when my dad put the barrel of his rifle over my shoulder and fired at a deer up on a hill and the muzzle blast almost burned my cheek.
A 30-06 from 3 inches away is a lot louder then a .22 LR at 2 feet.