Hearing health plays an important role in people’s well-being in daily life. About 5% of the world’s population suffers from some type of hearing problem, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Hearing problems present a series of changes in the way people living with these conditions relate to their environment and directly impact their quality of life and mental health, regardless of whether or not they have a hearing aid. Let’s take a look at some of the celebrities who are suffering from hearing loss.
Chris Martin, the voice of Coldplay, noted that his hearing began to decline from the age of 25. “There is no doubt that the disturbances were caused by years spent on stage and listening to very high decibels of music,” said the Briton. He was part of the British campaign called Action on Hearing Loss.
Having a regular check-up with a speech therapist is the first step towards improving the well-being and quality of life of those affected.
“Stop it because not being able to hear is not fun. And I say this from experience,” Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg told an audience in 2015. Her hearing loss is due to years of listening to loud music.
Timely detection is crucial to treating hearing loss and preventing not only hearing loss but also the development of other cognitive illnesses such as dementia, Alzheimer’s or depression, recommends Phonak, which specializes in hearing aids.
Luis Miguel is a singer with a long history in the Spanish-speaking world, however his career was marred by a hearing injury caused at a concert by a poorly calibrated monitor that caused tinnitus, as detailed in Luis Miguel: The Series. This painful and debilitating noise is not a disease, it is a symptom that something is wrong with the auditory system.
“Noisy restaurants drive me crazy,” Rob Lowe told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I live in a monophonic world. I wish I could (hear) stereo. But other than that, I don’t think about hearing loss,” said the actor, who can only hear with one ear. His condition was caused by a severe mumps illness when he was just a baby.
William Shatner admits he’s been living with tinnitus for years, going back to the time he and his colleague Leonard Nimoy experienced the sound of an explosion on the set of a Star Trek movie. . “There were days when I didn’t know how to live in agony,” the actor told the American Tinnitus Foundation, a foundation that helped him cope with his condition.
Halle Berry has the unfortunate history that she lost 80% of her hearing in her left ear and this was a result of domestic violence and she was repeatedly beaten by her abusive boyfriend causing irreparable damage to her ear.
Jane Lynch is an actress who became very popular after her role in the TV series Glee. She could not hear with her right ear, which may have been due to the high fever she had as a child of seven years old.
“My brother would switch his transistor radio from one ear to the other,” he recalled in his memoir Happy Accidents (2011). “I told him, ‘You can’t do that’.” You can only hear from one side. He replied, “No, I can hear both sides!” “And that’s when he realized her condition.
These days, there are gadgets that help people hear better that shouldn’t be reported, and they’re just as useful as wearing glasses or contact lenses, right?
