Sound suppressors, often called silencers, help protect gun owners’ hearing.
That’s the conclusion one of the largest ear-doctor organizations, with more than 13,000 members, reached this month. The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) issued a position statement backing the use of the noise-reducing devices. It pointed to three different studies that found suppressors help prevent hearing loss.
“Sound suppressors are mechanical devices attached to the barrel of a firearm designed to reduce harmful impulse noise of firearms at its source,” the group’s statement reads. “CDC research has shown that ‘The only potentially effective noise control method to reduce [shooters’] noise exposure from gunfire is through the use of noise suppressors that can be attached to the end of the gun barrel.’ Suppressors reduce muzzle blast noise by up to 30 dB.”
The backing of a major medical organization could help boost the use of suppressors among gun owners. It could also lend support to efforts to reform the laws governing their purchase and possession. While the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has opened up online suppressor registration and increased the speed they process those registrations, the devices remain heavily regulated under the same federal law that governs machine guns.
Reform is what Dr. Timothy Wheeler was hoping for when he proposed the statement alongside six colleagues. Wheeler, a board-certified otolaryngologist and AAO-HNS life fellow, is also the founder of Doctors For Responsible Gun Ownership. He said he hopes AAO-HNS’s adoption of the statement leads to a different approach to gun ownership at major medical organizations.
“My personal hope is that this represents maybe a change of heart for at least one small part of academic medicine,” Wheeler told The Reload. “Academic medicine has a very long way to go to climb out of the credibility gap that they have created for themselves in the public eye because they’ve been pretty much taken over by a lot of social and political crusades, including gun control, going way back to the late 1980s.”
He emphasized the AAO-HNS statement doesn’t advocate for any law or policy changes.
“It’s purely a scientifically based observation,” Wheeler said. “They are saying nothing beyond what’s in the statement.”
The group’s statement also recommended that firearms suppressors be coupled with ear plugs or ear muffs to ensure the best hearing protection.
“Their benefit is additive when used with ear-level hearing protection devices such as circumaural muffs or ear plugs,” it reads. “The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery endorses the use of firearm suppressors as an effective method of reducing the risk of hearing loss, especially when used in conjunction with conventional hearing protective measures.”
Wheeler argued that the statement aligns with the medical academy’s primary focus. He said hearing loss from gunshots is “untreatable and avoidable,” which makes “prevention all important.” He described suppressors as a “classic example of a public health tool for preventing inner ear hearing loss.”
“Like most of these professional organizations, AAO-HNS has a process whereby they craft official policy statements on various important issues, issues important to the profession, and some of them have to do with public health,” Wheeler said. “One of the big ones for the Academy is preventing hearing loss. That’s always been a big thing for ear doctors because there are many kinds of hearing loss and some of them we can fix with surgery or treat with medication. However, noise-induced hearing loss is permanent and untreatable. That’s the kind of inner ear hearing loss you see with gunshot noise.”
While AAO-HNS is not taking a political stance with the statement, Wheeler still hopes that recognizing how suppressors can prevent hearing damage could boost reform efforts. He pointed to the aptly-named Hearing Protection Act, which would partially de-regulate suppressors and has been a top priority for gun-rights activists for years, as an example of a proposal he’d like to get renewed attention in the wake of the statement.
“Suppressors dependably reduce the impact or impulse noise exposure of a gunshot by about 30 decibels,” Wheeler said. “So, you know, we just keep saying that over and over again. That’s all we really need to say. It has nothing to do with gun politics. If you oppose making this useful firearm accessory available to people who can benefit from it, then you are opposing protecting them from hearing loss. That’s the implication, and that’s the truth.”
