Musicians and Hearing Loss

Would you believe that there is a Rock and Roll Hard of Hearing Hall of Fame? Well, there is and some of the official selections are Pete Townshend - Guitar (The Who), Jeff Beck - Guitar (Yardbirds), Eric Clapton - Guitar (Yardbirds), Mick Fleetwood - Drums (Fleetwood Mac), Phil Collins - Vocals (Genesis), and Bono - Vocals (U2). Supposedly, Bono, actually got his nickname, “Bono Vox”, from a hearing-aid store in Dublin called Bononavox Hearing Aids.

Another artist with hearing loss is Black Eyed Peas singer/producer Will.I..Am. He has come out to say that he is currently suffering from tinnitus, a condition in which he constantly hears ringing in his ears. He says that there is always a beep there every day, all day, and that silence is painful for him. This drives him to write music at all hours of the day because music is the only thing which eases his pain.
One of my favourite musicians, Phil Collins, has left the music scene because of health issues. One of the major reasons is that his hearing has diminished over the years. He wears a hearing aid in his left ear. Unfortunately, his hearing loss impacts his ability to perform.

Surprisingly, this problem is not limited to Pop/Rock musicians. You might think that classical music is calming but orchestra sounds often reaches dangerous sound levels of 110 or 112 decibels. They experience the same loss of hearing as pop/rock musicians but it is caused by the onslaught of the percussion, horns, reeds and string sections.

It appears that hearing loss in musicians is more common then I thought. In extreme cases, severe hearing loss could mean an end to a musician's career.
And then again, some musicians with severe hearing damage, like Peter Townsend, who was the guitar player and primary songwriter for The Who, continue to compose. With a career that spans more than 40 years, he now has computer systems in his studio, assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help him with any high frequencies that are out of his range. According to his blog, July 2011, he actually said, "My hearing is actually better than ever.”