Whether you’re on the range or on the hunt, handling firearms requires you to maintain awareness of your surroundings. While firearm safety may sound as simple as watching your neighbors on the range or checking your surroundings before taking a shot, being aware of your situation takes a lot more than visual awareness. As your eyes keep you up to date on what’s in front of you, your ears keep you alerted to what’s going on all around you. Your hearing plays more of a role in your perception of the world than you may think even you use  Custom Ear Plugs  — the snap of a twig in the woods can alert you to the presence of a buck as well as the wandering steps of a fellow hunter. That’s why maintaining your hearing is a key part of being safe in dangerous environments. The issue becomes more complex the louder your environment gets. Though hunting often involves long periods of quiet attention, shooting ranges are notoriously loud enough to cause temporary deafness. While leaving your ears unprotected can let you hear the ambient noise of the range and listen for warning shouts, such exposure can result in long-term damage to your hearing. So — what exactly are you supposed to do? Put in some Custom Ear Plugs and risk missing out on a shout or crucial cue that could jeopardize your safety? Leave them out and deal with going deaf by middle-age? What if we said you didn’t have to choose? Read on to learn more about the methods and new technologies available today to help you stay aware of your surroundings while still protecting your hearing with  Custom Ear Plugs Technology in Protection and Awareness In addition to knowing how to maintain situational awareness in noisy environments, using enhanced hearing protection  such as Custom Ear Plugs for your environment is a key part of maintaining situational awareness and hearing protection simultaneously. To that end, the military and hearing-concerned businesses have developed new forms of hearing protection, made to help reach a compromise between hearing protection and situational awareness. Though often designed for the military, these new earplugs for situational awareness are boons to all gun-related businesses and hobbies. Just a few of the new earplugs with situational awareness measures built in include the following: Custom Ear Plugs Whereas traditional earplugs are simple foam pieces designed to block out sound completely, new models of earplugs are now available on the market. While foam Custom Ear Plugs alone tend to fit poorly, new models mold Custom Ear Plugs more closely to the shape of the ear canal, creating a more perfect seal.