I was at a private shooting range at a club once and there were some guys there with no hearing protection. I asked them to put it on as I was going to shoot my 300 WM. They laughed at me and sort of shrugged it off. I fired off one round and they nearly went through the roof. Needless to say they were gone by round three.

Not sure if this is true but I hear that .22's are worse because of the frequency than say .357.

Tom

It's true. Hearing protection is super important. And I'm sorry you have hearing issues at such a young age.

hearing loss
 

anytime you shoot you should wear hearing protection. take it from me. i used to shoot without muffs or plugs and paying for it now. im 71 and have hearing loss. too early stupid and too late smart. even a short barrel 22 makes enough noise to cause damage. hopefully your hearing will be ok. what i use are muffs with foam padding inside. i added more foam padding in them so they muffle sound even more.

Shooting a gun without protection can cause hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) due to the loud impact noise of the gunshot. The damage can be temporary or permanent depending on the intensity and duration of the exposure.