Music has always been a very important part of my life. When I lost my hearing, I lost a passion. Until I received my hearing aids…

As a child, I grew up in a house filled with music. Being born in the early 1960’s was the perfect time to experience the emerging styles of what would become much of the foundation for modern music.

I had my parents taste on one side, a blend of easy listening, Country and Irish pop, and my older brother’s ’60s and early ’70s chart hits. By the time I hit my teens, I was familiar with so much and was extremely eclectic in my tastes, regardless of style or musical genre.

Anyone who says deafness is a silent epidemic hasn’t heard Sean Forbes. 

The 35-year-old American hip-hop artist has been inspiring a generation of hearing, hard-of-hearing and Deaf individuals for years, as a musician who continues to break ground and stereotypes with his beats.  

With his newly-released single, “Two Blown Speakers,”  Forbes is proving his hearing loss won’t stand in the way of his passions. 

As a professional musician, I have been involved in many a discussion with friends and colleagues about the issue of noise induced hearing loss. 

For one, people simply don’t consider that it could happen to them. Another reason is the belief that earplugs distort sound, giving musicians a rather unpleasant experience.

But the big problem is that when noise-induced hearing loss occurs, it is often too late, irreversible and, if a significant loss, can be life-altering.

Knowing sign language helped American signer and songwriter Meghan Trainor survive vocal surgery and communicate with her boyfriend. 

The 23-year-old Grammy winner went on The Ellen Show this week to preform and discuss her second vocal surgery, which prevented her from talking for three months. 

Are you a musician who lost your hearing? If you are, you surely are not alone.

I first met Charles Mokotoff, a professional classical guitarist, through the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss (AAMHL) in Washington DC.  The association serves as a resource for musicians both professional and amateur to exchange information and promote each others work and journey.

Charles has a tragic hearing loss story and yet a highly successful musical life.  

The Antlers‘ Peter Silberman suffered from a “tremendous,” “all-consuming” tinnitus and hearing loss in his left ear before slowly returning to music again.

The 30-year-old songwriter, vocalist and guitarist told NPR’s All Songs +1 podcast that his hearing loss caused him to retreat from music, friends and public spaces, but after slowly starting to playing music quietly again, he’s ready to release his first solo album.

Rock legend Sting has admitted to having hearing loss, but claims he doesn’t like wearing hearing aids.

The 65-year-old singer-songwriter and actor told Sirius XM’s Artists Confidential on Tuesday that he wasn’t happy with his hearing aid experience.

“I tried wearing a hearing aid, but I heard more than I wanted to hear!” he said. “People talk a lot of s**t!”

In a remarkable demonstration of turning lemons into lemonade, musician, composer, technician and creative artist Daniel Fishkin decided to turn his experience with severe tinnitus into art.

While working on his college thesis recital in 2008, his ears started ringing. And as it has for many of us, they never stopped ringing.  But in Daniel’s case, tinnitus not only changed his life, it also reshaped his art.                            

“I found myself in this double bind where loud sounds were very painful, but if I shielded myself from loud noises I was reminded of my hearing damage constantly,” Fishkin says. 

Hearing loss reportedly  affects approximately four out of 10 musicians in the UK, and one violist is taking action against whom he claims is the culprit: the Royal Opera House, according to the BBC.  

Chris Goldscheider, a renowned violia player, claims his hearing loss was “irreversibly damaged” in 2012 during rehearsals with the Royal Opera House, based in London. He claims the sound of the brass instruments, played by musicians located behind him, peaked at 137 decibels – roughly the sound of a jet engine.