Toddlers and Hearing Protection

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Looking for some ideas on getting my two year old into the woods with me. Any good hearing protection for them so I can use a shotgun? Thinking of chasing some squirrels and most of the state lands don't allow rimfires, so subsonics out of a .22 are not on the menu.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My kid was a little older, but she got to pick out a pair of headphones for herself. The day we got them in the mail, she wore them the entire time. She now happily wears them whenever I ask her to do so.

I also have her trained so that if we are out hunting together and I raise my rifle, she inserts her fingers into her ears (she’s now 8).

 

[turbobrick]

I got some muffs for kids for my nephew so he could go to the races. They're pretty nice and he and his little sister like wearing them, well sized for kids.

 

[absurdgoose2]

I'm in a similar position as you right now. I've got a 1.5 year old and we've tried the walker toddler earmuffs but he rips them off pretty quick.

We've let him wear some of our over the ear headphones before and he didn't mind them when he could hear sound coming out of them, but with the passive earmuffs, I think it freaks him out that he can't hear anything (wish he could talk lol). trying to find a cheap pair of active muffs that would fit him well we can try

 

[MTPipeliner]

For my kids I used some ear muffs, I think the brand was banz, bans, or something like that. They were built smaller and sized for kids. Mostly used them in the garage with tools, shooting range, etc not so much walking in the woods but they did work good and since they were kid sized they seemed pretty comfortable for them.

 

[RockAndSage]

Looking for some ideas on getting my two year old into the woods with me. Any good hearing protection for them so I can use a shotgun? Thinking of chasing some squirrels and most of the state lands don't allow rimfires, so subsonics out of a .22 are not on the menu.

Doing a dry run or two into the woods without shooting might help with a baseline, as would a few dry-runs with muffs with loud stuff around the house, like a vacuum or blender or something.

It also makes me wonder if getting a set that you could pipe music or something into would help, or that at least has passive hearing via microphone, so you guys could talk and they wouldn't feel isolated.

 

[SloppyJ]

The small muffs were what we use for July 4th. I didn't shoot around them that young.

 

[Lawnboi]

We got some ear muffs for toddlers but don’t shoot around her.

I’m not sure I’d trust my 3 year old to keep them on or even know if they were on correctly.

 

[Tod osier]

Looking for some ideas on getting my two year old into the woods with me. Any good hearing protection for them so I can use a shotgun? Thinking of chasing some squirrels and most of the state lands don't allow rimfires, so subsonics out of a .22 are not on the menu.

The howard leight electronic muffs work for small heads, my son wore them very young. You can get a softer gel ear piece for them as well.

A benefit for my son was that we was always a loud kid and with the sound turned up all the way they made him actually conscious of his voice and he was actually quiet.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Doing a dry run or two into the woods without shooting might help with a baseline, as would a few dry-runs with muffs with loud stuff around the house, like a vacuum or blender or something.

It also makes me wonder if getting a set that you could pipe music or something into would help, or that at least has passive hearing via microphone, so you guys could talk and they wouldn't feel isolated.

I would definitely need to do a dry run. And I think active hearing would be best

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

The howard leight electronic muffs work for small heads, my son wore them very young. You can get a softer gel ear piece for them as well.

A benefit for my son was that we was always a loud kid and with the sound turned up all the way they made him actually conscious of his voice and he was actually quiet.

That's brilliant! Love the self moderating effect.

 

[PVHunter]

I habituated the kids to earpro by having all of us wear it whenever running the 2-stroke yard equipment. If you want to play with err I mean use the leafblower, then you have to wear earpro.

 

[Tod osier]

I would definitely need to do a dry run. And I think active hearing would be best

We had 3m youth sized muffs for him to that were not electronic and he was just louder with them.

The howard leight are a lil heavy, could be a factor. From what I've seen, they did seal on small heads.

 

[Chris in TN]

Banded ear plugs. Not perfect, but we shoot subsonic shotgun ammo for squirrels (for recoil reduction for the kids) and it helps mitigate sound just a bit and the banded plugs are easy to carry and always there:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9VTJTFY?th=1

 

[def90]

Same as everyone else, plugs and muffs.

 

[CodyAK]

Child sized ear muffs are good enough. Worked well for my child.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Banded ear plugs. Not perfect, but we shoot subsonic shotgun ammo for squirrels (for recoil reduction for the kids) and it helps mitigate sound just a bit and the banded plugs are easy to carry and always there:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9VTJTFY?th=1

Didn't know there was such a thing as subsonic shotgun ammo! Thanks