The Tinnitus Manifesto

The Elephant In The Room

Sometime back in the early ’90’s, guitarist and songwriter for the band The Who, Pete Townshend, talked about hearing problems and ringing in the ears that was caused by his studio work, tours with the band (and one specific pyrotechnic experiment from drummer Keith Moon). At the time, it was a fairly groundbreaking statement from a musician of that stature to admit the ugly side effects of years of hazardous sound exposure. There just wasn’t much said about that kind of thing among professional musicians, let alone in public.
It was still surprising to me more than 20 years later when Dave Grohl spoke about his hearing problems and tinnitus from playing. It was as if he said the quiet part loud...

Just in the last few years other artists like Neil Young, Grimes, Will.I.Am, Thomas Bangalter, Eddie Vedder, Barbara Streisand, Anthony Keidis, Bob Dylan, Bono, James Hetfield and many others have become more public about their hearing issues. Recent award winning movies like “A Star is Born”, “The Sound of Metal” and “Coda” had a primary storyline involving musicians and tinnitus/hearing.

As a musician born with hearing difficulties and who suffers from tinnitus, it is a relief to witness this noticeable increase in conversations among some famous musicians and in the media. However, as someone writing a book about the subject, it was surprising to me how many musicians I’ve spoken to who simply don’t want to know the status of their own hearing.
And it’s not just a passive, ‘When I get some time I’ll get my hearing checked…’
It’s usually an active ‘Yea, I have ringing in my ears and my hearing’s messed up, but I don’t even wanna know how bad.’

*Fun Fact: During informal interviews with local Nashville musicians for this project, I generally received more honest answers about hearing from the partner or spouse of the musician than from the musician themselves.*

Tough Love

To all of my musician friends past and future, and to the musicians that have so far refused to learn about their own hearing, I say with the deepest love and respect in my heart… you just need to get over that shit.

Seriously.
As a musician, how much have you spent on instrument purchases, maintenance and repair? How much do you know about what makes your instrument sound the best? The various woods used, the type of finish, the gauge and type of strings, the pick-ups, pick, the placement of the pick, or the type of reed, the type of mic, the amount of breath or the pressure of the key?
How much of your time and effort have you put into learning to play those instruments?
What would you do if your most important (and least replaceable) piece of equipment wasn’t at full function? Ignore it?
How can not knowing the basics of your own hearing possibly improve your musicianship, creativity, ability to perform, let alone listen to music?
More directly, what the hell?

Semi-Tough Love

The two primary justifications I received (and have told myself) were:
1) “I just don’t want to know” (in other words, “I’m scared to know”).
2) “There’s nothing I can do about it” (in other words, “I’m scared to know what I’d need to do about it”).

Modern understanding of hearing and the brain says there are valid reasons why this is such a sensitive topic for musicians in particular.

Think of it this way:
As the painter experiences shapes and color, and a dancer experiences movement, the musician experiences sound not just as a vehicle for creation, but compared to most people, it is also a larger part of how we perceive and interact with the world.
The neurological aspects of hearing are more complex than the mechanical workings. Our brains are constantly making almost instantaneous and even predictive decisions about what sounds are important and what are not, what to process and what to discard, and how to connect sounds to make a comprehensible experience.
Over years of practicing, learning, listening, playing, alone and with people, off and on stage. You have cultivated your mental connections to sound and expanded the acreage that sound processing takes in your brain. Hearing and listening are not necessarily the same thing. Hearing is more mechanical and automatic, listening is a conscious, active process.
As a musician, you have cultivated this conscious, active process.

More simply put, as a musician you are more susceptible to hearing sensitivity, tinnitus and other issues not only because of loud sound environments, but because you’ve spent years training yourself to hear and more importantly to actively listen in ways most people don’t.