Hearing protection and decibel levels..."just the facts ma'am...just the facts please."

First topic message reminder :

Two months after experiencing catastrophic and complete hearing loss in my left ear, and probably 10 appointments with a variety of doctors and healthcare professionals, the audiologist today pretty much insisted that my left ear is "dead"...i.e. damaged beyond repair.  Meaning that hearing aids won't help so the ability to sort out sounds and background noises, requiring two function ears, is gone from my life.  So settings like sitting at a large family dinner or in a crowded room with people chatting means that I will be sitting there with a dumb half-smile on my face because I don't understand a word of what is being said when there is more than one voice/sound going on at the same time.

"Protect your right ear" was the message from the audiologist.  "Or you might end up in a world of complete silence."  Again, hearing aids won't help.

Normal conversation is at about 50-60 decibels.  Sudden noises at 120 decibels can cause immediate damage.

A 22 is maybe 140-150 decibels.  But 9mm or a 45 ACP and just about everything else...rifle, handgun and shotgun is about 160 decibels or above.

Your out of the box hearing protection is going to be around 30 decibels of protection.  

That's a recipe for hearing damage.

What is your solution?

IN PARTICULAR...what do the noise canceling devices like the Walker Razor or the Axil devices actually work?  The ones that say they have electronics that can cancel sharp noises.  What decibel level does a gunshot end up being with those devices?

Get custom made ear plugs and then use earmuffs with microphones/speakers in them so you can hear the range commands