Julie Raney is a certified and licensed audiologist. She has a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Master’s Degree in Audiology from Idaho State University. She has worked as a clinical audiologist in Colorado since 2005. She specializes in hearing amplification for adults and delivers her services in both English and Sign Language.

From a Musician’s Perspective

One musician who’s very open about his hearing loss is Huey Lewis from The News. He recounts the moment his whole world changed. In January 2018, when he was on stage performing, he suddenly couldn’t hear clearly. “I thought the bass amp had blown a speaker,” he says. “I just heard this horrible noise and I couldn’t find pitch or even hear myself. It was an absolute nightmare. The worst thing. Just horrible.”

30 years earlier, Lewis had lost the hearing in his right ear. He says the sounds around him were muffled, and it felt like his ear was full of water. Nothing he could do cleared up the sound in his right ear, and he was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. He slowly adjusted to hearing with only one ear, and continued his career as a musician until that fateful day in 2018 when his left ear suddenly gave out.

Since then, Lewis hasn’t been able to perform, or enjoy listening to music. On certain days, he feels like he’s almost deaf, and struggles to hear conversations even with the help of his hearing aids. On other days he can hear conversations easily, and enjoys his social life. However, he doesn’t enjoy listening to music anymore, and he can’t hear the pitches clearly, let alone sing. After his hearing loss in 2018, he cancelled his remaining tour dates, and is afraid he’ll never be able to perform on stage again. This has left a huge hole in his life, and affected his overall happiness and wellbeing.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss

Why do so many musicians face hearing loss? Musicians have one of the noisiest professions, along with construction workers, factory workers, and law enforcement officers. Musicians are often exposed to very loud sounds, and this can lead to noise induced hearing loss, or hearing loss caused by dangerously loud noise. Daily practice sessions, group rehearsals, and packed concerts place a daily strain on hearing, and these practices and concerts can easily reach 100 – 110 decibels. At this volume, hearing loss can occur in just a few minutes. Exposing the ears to these dangerously loud sounds day in and day out will lead to tinnitus and hearing loss, and professional musicians are almost 4 times as likely to having hearing loss compared to non-musicians.

Why Don’t More Musicians Wear Hearing Protection?

Despite having a high risk of noise induced hearing loss, many musicians don’t wear hearing protection. Foam ear plugs are good in a pinch, but aren’t a good solution for daily hearing protection, and while earmuffs are a great way to protect hearing, they muffle all the sound around you. Musicians rely on their hearing to make great music, and they don’t want to wear earplugs or earmuffs that will change the sound quality, muffle sounds, or make it hard to hear the soft sounds in the music.

Hearing Protection Designed for Professional Musicians

Hearing protection has evolved a lot in recent years, and if this advanced technology had been available 30 years ago, Huey Lewis might not have suffered such severe hearing loss. Modern hearing protection designed for musicians addresses the specific issues musicians face. They need to be able to hear all the sounds in the music clearly, and can’t practice or perform if the sounds are muffled. Musicians ear plugs are custom devices molded to perfectly fit the unique contours of the ear, and provide a great seal. These digital ear plugs analyze all the sounds in the environment, and allow soft sound to reach the ear unimpeded. However, as soon as the music gets louder, or there’s a dangerously loud passage or song, the ear plugs will block harmful sounds, protecting the delicate cells in the ear, and reducing musicians’ risk of noise induced hearing loss.