Thread: Suppressor effectiveness - Think about this!

Originally Posted by 6x47

ODL-

There is nothing I have read to make me support a particular dose/cumulative energy approach to specifying safe exposure to impulse noise.

So to see if I understand your comment: Above 140 and you get trauma to one organ. Continuous lower level noises 115 and lower induce trauma to a different organ. There is no body of evidence to support impulse noise guidelines in the range firearms will create impulses whether suppressed or with muffs in the 115 to 140 dBA range.

This is the problem. I really do appreciate your input into this. I also understand the threshold for making a comment as a scientist. But it leaves us with either the standard quoted or nothing. Until I can get a better guideline than the one quoted earlier, I will stick with that and err on the side of caution by extending the assumed duration of the shot. The peak value will only occur for a few microseconds and then there will be a variety of other lower level noises. To be cautious I will use the duration of sound above 115.