Music lovers and musicians of every genre can no doubt relate to the words of reggae icon Bob Marley. Marley said the following in regards to the power of music: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
While physical pain might not come with the music received by adoring audiences, it’s been known to take a toll on the musicians performing it. Many musicians find out that without protection, the continuous exposure to loud tones can contribute to hearing loss.
Actually, one German study revealed that working musicians are nearly four times more likely to suffer from noise-related hearing loss than someone working in another field. Those same musicians are also 57 percent more likely to have consistent ringing in their ears, also known as tinnitus.
For musicians who are frequently exposed to noise levels higher than 85 decibels (dB), these findings aren’t unexpected. One study revealed that levels louder than 110dB can start to affect nerve cells, corrupting the ability to deliver electrical signals from the ears to the brain. This damage is normally irreversible.
Any type of music can be loud enough to damage hearing but some styles are more hazardous because they are inherently loud. And noise-related hearing loss has had a negative effect on the careers of many rock musicians.
Pete Townshend of the renowned British rock band, The Who, is one musician who deals with partial deafness and tinnitus. The common belief is that Townshend’s hearing issues result from continuous and repeated exposure to loud music. As his symptoms have advanced over the years, Townshend has used several different strategies to manage the problem.
On the band’s 1989 tour, Townshend chose to play acoustically and protect himself from direct exposure to loud noises by playing behind a glass partition. The noise turned out to be too loud at a 2012 show and the guitarist decided to leave the stage.
Substantial hearing loss caused by loud music exposure has also been a problem for Alex Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen. As reported by Van Halen himself, the drummer lost 60 percent of his hearing in his left ear and, 30 percent in his right.
Van Halen consulted with his soundman about a custom-fitted in-ear monitor as he looked for ways to manage his worsening hearing loss. That in-ear monitor would connect wirelessly to the band’s soundboard, which let him hear the music at a lower (and clearer) volume. That prototype ultimately became so successful that the band’s sound-man started manufacturing them commercially and eventually sold that company to a national sound and video technology outfit for $34 million.
Van Halen, Townshend, and also many other musicians, including Sting and Eric Clapton, are but a few notable mentions on the long list of famous musicians to experience noise-induced hearing loss.
But successfully fighting hearing loss is something one singer in the United Kingdom has accomplished. And while she may not have Clapton’s international name recognition or Sting’s history of record sales, she does have a set of hearing aids that have helped to revive her career.
From stages in London’s West End, British musical theater performer, Elaine Paige, has been thrilling audiences for over 50 years. Fifty Years of performing damaged Paige’s hearing to the point she suffered significant hearing loss. For years, Paige has admitted to depending on hearing aids.
Paige said that she uses her hearing aids daily to combat her hearing loss and insists that her condition has no bearing on her ability to work. And that’s good news to theater fans in the U.K.
References
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2018/musicians-hearing-loss.html
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150619-are-you-damaging-your-hearing-without-realising-it