Why Musicians Suffer From Hearing Loss

Many people with hearing impairment happen to be musicians. Those who play the drums or brass and even the conductors may be well exposed to intense music, which makes anyone susceptible to noise induced hearing loss. Sometimes, when you’re a music enthusiast, you won’t notice that the band is already too loud or that the drums are starting to pierce your ears, especially when you’re preoccupied with your composition and you’re enjoying the moment. But damage can gradually take place during rehearsals and concerts. The damage to the inner ears is cumulative, and most musicians won’t notice anything until much damage to the delicate structures inside the cochlea has occurred.

Hearing loss is a devastation to many artists because music demands one to have acute hearing. If hearing is lost, composing and performing become extremely difficult. But we have heard musicians who have remained to be all time greats despite their disability. Beethoven, for example, started to suffer from hearing loss and tinnitus sometime in 1796, but these conditions didn’t hamper him from continuing to compose music, but performing in concerts became a tough business for him.

The delicate structures in the inner ears, known as hair cells, are damaged by loud noise. Once damaged, there is no way of repairing them. Noise induced hearing loss is a permanent condition that cannot be cured, and it is usually accompanied by tinnitus or ringing in the ears, which also has no cure. Tinnitus treatments remedy the condition by reducing it to a manageable degree. Musicians with hearing impairment and tinnitus should wear hearing aids.

The Adult Musicians With Hearing Loss Held Its First New York Concert — New York Magazine: