yea id say you wouldnt want it there lol. its possible it was the tone, i am much more sensitive to high frequencies and tones than i am low ones. This was shooting dirty steel case wolf 55gr.Went and checked if we had data on the arc 30 since we have metered at Bryans place in the past. It metered 141.2 at the left ear on a 16inch AR with 62 gr ammo. It did meter sub 140 at the muzzle but probably not a good place to put your ear when shooting.