None of us hear like we used to (my better half can attest to this) and with that we need to be careful. Plugs, muffs, maybe both should be used depending.
For some folks, shooting is a part of everyday life, whether it is down at the gun range fine-tuning your aim or outdoors hunting. However being exposed to the loud noise of shooting on a continuous bases can have a long term (and possibly permanent) affect on your hearing if you do not take the adequate steps to make sure you protect your hearing when shooting.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), when a person is repeatedly exposed to noise levels of 85 decibels (decibels is the measure of sound intensity) or more, a person can start suffering what is known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). The infographic below illustrates how noise from gunshots compare to noise we typically encounter in everyday life.
Source: The Smoking Barrel USA
