Within the UNITAF settings, Ace simulates hearing damage when near explosions or gunfire. Too much hearing damage over a short period will result in combat deafness, hindering your ability to hear your surroundings as well as other people talking directly or over the radio.
To prevent this, all loadouts include earplugs that can be put in or out through Ace Interactions, it is recommended to do so once the STARTEX brief is complete. Some loadouts also include helmets with hearing protection or electronic hearing protection that can be used alongside regular earplugs to further reduce potential hearing damage or muffle surrounding sounds.
Electronic Hearing Protection works by temporarily reducing all sounds when any sound that could cause damage occurs. This can cause discomfort as this also affects direct and radio communication. This feature can be disabled client-side by turning off "Enable Noise Ducking Effect" in the ACE Hearing addon settings.
