My daughter wanted me to take her to the range to shoot an old family rifle. She was visiting and I only had one set of earmuffs so I gave them to her and I used foam plugs.
How I wish I'd picked up another set of earmuffs! I'm now functionally deaf and my hearing can't be restored. It's a huge price to pay for one stupid misjudgment.
Interesting. I rarely use anything other than foam earplugs, and my hearing is normal for my age (as measured by an audiologist, for my FAA airman certificate). That said, the earplugs I get are rated at 32db noise reduction.
Yup on both.
I now have tinnitus from probably shooting hand cannons when I was younger without ear protection.