The Volume and the Damage Done

Protect Your Hearing

by Pete Holly

It used to be that hearing loss was most often found in older people.Not any
longer.As the world has become a louder place so has hearing loss spread across all age
groups.The First Large group of people to suffer tramatic hearing loss at a young age
were the men in tank units in world war II.Thou many of them have passed away-
they're still a few members of tank crews who are alive.From thier testimony and
from the others who have passed on;every soldier who occupied a tank in the
second world war suffered very severe hearing damage.Some went completly
deaf but the largest percentage of tank crew members lost most of thier
hearing ability but could still fuction with hearing aids-combined with lip-reading.
In the seventies The Who held the guiness book world record for live performance
volume.Thier shows in the seventies were on average played at a sound level of
about 120 decibles.For referance that's like standing next to a large jet engine,
the kind you see on 747's,running at full power with no hearing protection.
Given enough exposure or exposure for any more than a few seconds and you
can become permantly deaf.All the members of the Who lost a great deal of thier
hearing and Pete Townsend suffers from hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousous
both of which make many sounds sound much louder than a person without hearing
damage hear them.It's as if the soundtrack of life has been permanantly turned up
to full volume and it's extrodinarly painful-causing severe headaches-loss of equalibrium-and can also cause the sufferer to expierience panic attacks-when they find
themselves in a loud environment such as busy supermarket,a sports event,or a loud party.
The combination of so many differant sounds bombarding the ears of a person with hyperacousis can cause dizzyness and an extreme feeling of disorientation.In short it's
one the most painful and difficult invisable disabilties a human can suffer from.Many sufferers
commit suicide rather than living out thier life with this disease which cause's an unberable
amount of pain and confusion.Beetoveen is probably the most well know sufferer.As his hearing
recruitment and hearing loss continued to deteriate he couldn't stand to being around other
people as more and more sound wave frequency's became extremly painful for his damaged
hearing.He became extremly irritable and it was incredibly difficult for him to keep on living
With this horrific disorder.In the end he came totally deaf.When he wrote the Famous 9th
Symphony,the greatist work of his entire career,he couldn't hear even a single note of it.
He had his piano set flat against the floor and by putting his ear to the floor he could only feel
the vibrations-and somehow he was able to use this method to compose the 9th Symphony.
But he was miserable and he let everyone know that he was miserable.These disorders are nearly impossible to live with and many sufferers are not able to live out thier lives choosing
instead to end the pain rather than go on living with it.As a sufferer of hyperacousous i can
testify to the extent that it disrupts the hearing damaged persons life.It's only by sheer luck
that i am still around to write this.
So my advice to young musicians is to take care of your hearing.When you hear your
ears ringing like the bells of St. Mary's after a concert or after you've been rehearseing with
your band or orchestra your hearing has been permanantly damaged.After a certain number
of times of this happening finally the tintinitus becomes permanant.I've had it so long that i
believe if it suddenly stopped-i'm not sure i could handle it.It Would be too foriegn to me-that
i think suddenly not hearing that constant ringing sound and the ocean sound along with it would
send me into a state of shock.
Get a pair of musicians earpugs from an audioligist-they are the best coping mechanism for
people with hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousis.They have saved my life.

Ps.Classical Musicians are just as prone to serious hearing disorders as are Rock Musicians.

Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2010-all rights reserved