When I'm at the range I don't like to talk but I also don't like to be rude if others are there. I never bought a pair of electronic muffs partly due partly to cost and partly to decibel ratings. I have two regular pairs and the one I use has a high decibel rating. Being a bit OCD I wear a pair of plugs AND the muffs. I can't hear conversation well but the sound of gunfire is muffled quite well. I have a profound hearing loss at a specific frequency but otherwise mostly normal. I say "normal" though I, too, have significant tinnitus and can't follow conversation very well, say, in restaurants where there is background conversation/music.
I don't usually wear hearing protection in the woods since I can hear animal sounds quite well and only one shot is often fired. I use to hunt deer with handguns and would wear a set of Sonic Ear Valves, which I still have. I could still hear woods sounds and the blast of magnum rounds was well muffled.
The report of muzzleloaders is interesting; not as sharp as smokeless rounds or as disturbing to the ear. Yet in a confined space - a room, for instance - black powder has a concussive force that can be felt, unlike smokeless.
