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.

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.

“My personal hope is that this represents maybe a change of heart for at least one small part of academic medicine. 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 going way back to the late 1980s” said Dr. Timothy Wheeler, a board-certified otolaryngologist and AAO-HNS life fellow. 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.

https://www.entnet.org/resource/suppressors-for-hearing-preservation/