A suppressor for indoor shooting sites

Shootings at test shooting sites indoors can cause a risk of hearing loss for the workers at the site. The noise can also disturb other persons working in nearby rooms in the same building. A simple suppressor was constructed from a ventilation sound absorber. Sound level meters were installed near the shooter, to his side and in front of him, and in two nearby rooms. The suppressor solution attenuated the peak noise level to the side by 14–18 dB. Near the ear of the shooter, the amplification was 1–4 dB due to reflections. Therefore, a suppressor should have an adjustment mat between the muzzle of the weapon and the suppressor that would isolate sound from the muzzle backwards. In front of the shooter, the peak levels were attenuated by 0–3 dB due to the suppressor system. The suppressor system attenuated noise best to the side. The opening between the muzzle and the suppressor system caused the attenuation at the back of the weapon to be modest. In front, the bullet flight noise remained, and as a result there was no significant noise reduction in this direction. More noise control work is still needed, and one possibility for improvement would be a better enclosure of the imminent shooting area.