This article was adapted from a Q&A interview with Sam Baker, by musician Stu Nunnery. 

In 1986, Texan musician Sam Baker was traveling on a train to Machu Picchu in Peru.  He had no idea that the Shining Path guerrilla group placed a bomb on the luggage rack just above his head. The bomb exploded killing seven passengers. Baker was left with numerous injuries, including ruptured ear drums.

In that instance, his life changed forever.

A new study shows that certain forms of tinnitus – a persistent ringing or buzzing sound in the ears – may be hereditary.

Men, in particular, may be more prone to experience bilateral tinnitus because of their genetics, according to the study conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the European research network TINNET.

Hearing loss is an especially unique and tragic experience for anyone who enjoys listening to music, playing an instrument or singing, as part of their daily rituals or professional career.

Most of us carry in our muscles and memories  a library of musical sounds, melodies, rhythms, phrases, motifs, and lyrics from simple folk tunes to classical and every modern popular musical form. We depend on music to provide familiar, comforting, exciting, memorable, life-changing, direct and background touches to our lives.

After hearing loss, music can become painful to listen to, distorted, out of pitch, excessively loud and/or soft. Mixed with tinnitus, as it often is, recapturing music in our lives poses daunting challenges and few promises from the experts.

Fortunately today, the issues of music and hearing loss are more and more being taken up by specialists in the hearing fields.

How often do you take anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics? Did you know that some commonly prescribed drugs have the potential to damage your hearing or temporarily worsen tinnitus? 

Not every medical practitioner can be an expert on the side effects of every medication they prescribe, but it never ceases to amaze me when a physician, knowing the severity of my hearing loss, prescribes medication that I later discover is ototoxic. (Or one that potentially “may cause tinnitus,” or where hearing loss is listed as a contraindication.)

There’s an old saying: “forewarned is forearmed,” and I’ve applied that to educating myself about commonly prescribed drugs and their potential side-effects.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

Christmas is the perfect time to indulge loved ones and show them how much you care. Wouldn’t it be nice to give an extra thoughtful present to a friend or relative with hearing loss this Christmas? We thought we’d take a look at some gift ideas for people with hearing loss.

Some people with hearing loss say that with their sense of hearing impaired, their other senses are enhanced. With this luxury gift guide, we’re focusing on the senses of sight, taste, touch, and smell. There’s something for everyone!

I have suffered from tinnitus since I was 7 years old, and I always thought there was nothing I could do about it… until I got hearing aids. 

I remember first noticing my tinnitus when I was watching TV one day and my left ear sounded like it had a drum beating away inside it. It came and went periodically, but wasn’t something I was forced to think about often.

By the time I was 12 or 13 years old, the tinnitus had significantly worsened to the point where I was regularly distressed and began to struggle with everyday activities. Sitting in the wrong part of the classroom at school would lead to a trigger from the road traffic or the boys’ breaking voices. The joy of playing in the local orchestra was overridden by the need to find the precise place I could sit in relation to the cellos and double basses.

Ask Anna is a weekly advice column for the hearing loss community. 

Dear Anna,

I have Hyperacusis and I can’t tolerate loud sounds, such as when people talking loud, dogs barking, dishes, etc. Will hearing aids help my Hyperacusis? Will I be able to hear when people talk but still tolerate my surrounding? – Aaron in Nashville 

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. 

Any health crisis can happen suddenly. Some can be more deadly than others, such as strokes and heart attacks.  Fortunately, in many cases there are protocols to address these conditions when they happen or soon after to minimize any long-term effects. But for sheer terror, Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL)  – also known as Sudden Onset Hearing Loss or Sudden Deafness – might be the scariest thing of all for those who have experienced it.

Many in the hearing health community now say that when sudden onset hearing loss does strike, it’s a medical emergency that needs immediate attention. Too often we wait too long to get help when treatments may no longer be effective. While it may not be a matter of life and death to some, the loss of hearing alters lives, livelihoods, relationships, earnings and more in the short-term and often, permanently.