Noise Control for Indoor Firing Ranges- ArtUSA Noise and Sound Control for Shooting

	Shooting Ranges When building an indoor or outdoor shooting range there are several different acoustical products that can be used. With indoor shooting ranges you are dealing with high decibel levels and generally hard reflective surfaces all around the gun range. Sound absorption can be added to the walls of the shooting range to lower the reverb level within the room.  Sound barriers canan also be added to indoor shooting ranges to lower the sound that is traveling through the walls and ceilings to outside sources such as neighbors. When building an outdoor shooting range you can use acoustical blanket or sound curtains to reduce noise levels at the property line.

When building an indoor or outdoor shooting range there are several different acoustical products that can be used. With indoor shooting ranges you are dealing with high decibel levels and generally hard reflective surfaces all around the gun range. The walls of the shooting range need to be treated with sound absorption materials to lower reverb levels within the room. ArtUSA offers a large variety of noise control foam, sound curtains, and composite materials for use in achieving this goal. Many of the foams can be treated with a hypalon coating for easy cleaning. Foam panels are also very easy to install with a water-based panel adhesive, and existing shooting ranges should consider a retrofit to their interiors. Building a shooting range, especially an outdoor shooting range, may also require the use of soundproofing materials and ArtUSA offers a variety of resources to help our customers. When soundproofing or adding acoustical products to an indoor gun range, we recommend using SONEX FOAM Art srb Panels or Dampening Panels all class A fire retardant wall and ceiling panels. They have both an NRC and STC value. This means it blocks and absorbs sound. These products are cost effective and ideal for absorbing sound.

Many Training Facilities choose SONEX one panels - which can be black Hypalon coated - for the walls, ceilings, vestibules, and control rooms.
Some more advaced ranges can have high-tech sound equipment that can simulate a variety of situations, including the sounds of planes taking off and landing. With so much gunfire and other sounds happening at once, shooters are keenly aware of excessive reverb. The idea is to protect the hearing of the officers while they were training in the gun ranges, and make sure the surrounding classrooms and or offices in the building are not disturbed by on-going gunfire.

SONEX one Panels, which were Hypalon® coated in black, are but one option for such projects. Installed on the walls and ceilings of the vestibules, or "sound locks," leading into each shooting range, as well as the area where the officers stand to fire their weapons, the panels can dramatically reduce airborne sound energy. The Hypalon coating is not only an excellent cosmetic option for the panels, it is also functional, as it protects them from dust and dirt and allows them to be easily wiped clean.

Customers all over the world are very pleased with the SONEX foam. SONEX keeps range noise from being heard in neighboring rooms.

The easily installed panels are made with willtec® foam, which is class 1 fire-rated for flame spread and smoke density. The best fire rating possible, Class 1 materials will char but not burn when they come in contact with flame. Flammability of acoustical products is always a concern, particularly in shooting ranges where unburned gunpowder can sometimes present a fire hazard.

Indoor Firing Ranges

					Indoor Firing Ranges   On This Page... Overview   NIOSHTIC-2 Search   Health Hazard Evaluations   Other NIOSH Topic Pages   CDC/NIOSH Documents   Other Resources
	Indoor firing ranges are popular among law enforcement and recreational shooters because they offer protection from inclement weather conditions and can be operated around the clock under controlled environmental conditions. However, many firing range facilities lack environmental and occupational controls to protect the health of shooters and range personnel from effects of airborne lead, noise, and other potential exposures. This page provides links to information about the evaluation, measurement, and control of noise and airborne lead exposures at indoor firing ranges. Peer-Reviewed Publications Noise exposure assessment and abatement strategies at an indoor firing range Appl Occup Env Hyg 2003 Aug; 18(8):629-636 Ventilation control of lead in indoor firing ranges: inlet configuration and booth and fluctuating flow contributions Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 1991 Feb; 52(2):81-91 NIOSH/NHCA best-practices workshop on impulsive noise Noise Control Eng J 2005 Mar-Apr; 53(2):53-60 For more publications, see: NIOSHTIC-2 search results on Firing Ranges is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.

Choosing ear protection for indoor firing ranges

In most cases, the sound level from firing a weapon is sufficient to require the use of hearing protection, even if the weapon is fired only one time. Recent NIOSH studies of sound levels from weapons fires have shown that they may range from a low of 144 dB SPL for small caliber weapons such as a 0.22 caliber rifle to as high as a 172 dB SPL for a 0.357 caliber revolver.

Consequently, NIOSH recommends that hunters and shooters use double hearing protection each and every time a weapon is fired. Double protection involves wearing both earplugs and earmuffs. The best combination is a deeply inserted foam earplug and a well-seated earmuff.

NIOSH examined the performance of several types of hearing protectors with a variety of weapons. Earplugs were able to reduce the peak sound pressure level by 10 to 30 decibels and earmuffs yielded 20 to 38 decibels of peak reduction. Active level-dependent earmuffs were found to react sufficiently fast to provide the same protection level as when they were turned off [Murphy and Little (2002) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111:2336; Franks and Murphy, (2002). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112:2294]. The effect of volume gain setting was minimal for active level-dependent devices (see Figure 1). Each protector was tested with the volume set for unity gain, maximum gain or turned off. At unity gain the sound under the protector is as loud as when no protector is worn. The peak reduction was mostly unaffected by the change in the volume setting.

The formula for determining the maximum number of shots is:

 

As shown in Figure 2, the amount of reduction for 12-gauge shotgun using the David Clark Model 27 earmuff is 31 dB, reducing the peak level from 161(red line) to 130 dB SPL( blue line). So, with the earmuff alone, the number of shots recommended by NIOSH would be five per 24-hour period. The addition of a deeply inserted foam earplug reduces another 21 dB, increasing the allowed number of shots to more than 1200 per 24-hour period. A smaller caliber weapon with a lower peak level, such as 0.22 caliber rifles with peak levels of 144 dB SPL, could be fired as many as 63000 rounds per 24-hour period if the shooter were to wear an active level-dependent earmuff along with a deeply inserted foam earplug. The combination of an earmuff and a deeply-inserted foam earplug can provide as much as 50 dB of peak reduction, which is adequate in most cases.

Double hearing protection can severely compromise the ability to communicate when both devices are passive, linear protectors. The use of an active level-dependent earmuff with a deeply-inserted foam earplug can compensate for the loss of communication ability when double protected. In some cases, the earmuff may provide sufficient gain to counter the attenuation of the earplug.

For shooters, a key indication that whatever protection is being used is inadequate is ringing of the ears or a feeling of fullness in the ears after an episode of shooting.

There are also active level-dependent hearing protectors that are built into pre-molded earplugs and custom earplugs as well on the market. There are no data on their effectiveness. At present, there are no data on the use of an active level-dependent earplug in combination with a passive earmuff. Given the attenuation chain, it is doubtful that the pairing would be as effective as the active level-dependent earmuff with foam earplug.