When I was about six years old I would create instruments with my friends. Most memorable are the drums we would make from a box or using the tennis racket as a guitar. Needless to say, today I'm not a rock and roller or musician for that matter, but a listener of nearly any genre of music.
It's almost frightening to think that over-exposure to something you love with great passion would cause your damage. Especially when that thing you love has the power to create a following, and fill a colosseum of loyal fans. This rings true for famous hearing-impaired rock and rollers.
Basically, yes, sound exposure is the main factor behind musicians with hearing loss. It also makes sense. Sound during rehearsals can oscillate between 80 and 90 dB. Regular rehearsing under these circumstances is a considerable tinnitus risk.
List of Rockers With Hearing Loss Grows
- Huey Lewis discussed how hearing loss and Menière’s disease cut his singing career short in a recent Starkey Sound Bites podcast. (Harmonica)
- Pete Townshend has talked about his hearing loss for decades, blaming it on studio headphones, not his band’s thunderous live music. (Fender Stratocaster)
- Roger Daltry confessed in a 2018 San Diego Union-Tribune article that he is “very, very deaf.” (flute, harmonica, tambourine, and guitar)
- Danny Elfman switched to composing soundtracks after fronting his band, Oingo Boingo, which left him with hearing loss and tinnitus. (Guitar)
- Mick Fleetwood has gone on record with his hearing loss, even participating in a “quiet” rock concert back in 2005 to raise awareness about hearing loss. (drummer)
- Sting has admitted to dealing with hearing loss, but so far has resisted getting hearing aids to help. (Sting)
- Alice Cooper proudly brags about wearing “clearing aids” to help him overcome the hearing impairment he got from “55 years of blaring loud rock music.” (Guitar)
Musicians are more likely to experience an auditory decline
They’re among a growing number of musicians suffering from hearing loss after decades of exposure to loud music. The problem is especially prevalent in the ranks of boomer rockers, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Neil Young, and Sting.
Achieve Hearing & Rehabilitation is a speech and hearing clinic with locations in Plano and Dallas, Texas. Achieve Hearing offers speech-language pathology and audiological services, as well as hearing aids for children and adults of all ages. The Achieve Hearing staff includes an Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathologists that are licensed in the state of Texas and certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Achieve Hearing & Rehabilitation has locations in Plano and Dallas. Get answers to your hearing loss questions by call us at 972-608-0416 or learn more at achievehearing.com
