Aural danger
Marcus Berkmann on what failing hearing means for a music-lover
The Guardian had an interesting — and, frankly, terrifying — piece the other day by Nick Coleman, the Independent’s long-serving and shamelessly cerebral rock critic. I used to know Nick slightly: we talked drivel on the same radio show for a while a dozen years ago, and he wrote a piece about my first cricket book, in which he described me as ‘faintly posh and indefatigably sunny’, a combination of words that makes my girlfriend fall about to this day. Actually, I liked him a lot: he has an incredibly dry sense of humour and loves music to his core.
And a terrible thing has happened to him. Without warning, or apparent reason, he has lost his hearing in one ear. Worse, the ability to hear in that ear has been replaced by a monstrous variety of noises, as his brain tries to compensate. ‘It is the auditory equivalent of the illusion experienced by amputees,’ he explains. It’s not conventional tinnitus, ‘but entirely reactive to input in the good ear...When two or more voices are joined in amiable conversation, I hear trains entering underground stations.’ And music, his ‘great passion in life’, has become a nightmare. ‘What I can hear is monophonic, on the far side of whatever uproar happens to be filling my head.’
He manages to write about all this with great eloquence and without a trace of self-pity, or the rage he must surely feel. Because the chances are that this will get no better. His ability to cope with it might, but the hearing in that ear seems to be gone for good.
As it happens, Nick is the same age as me: 47. We are at that slightly worrying age when bits of us start dropping off and people we know keel over for no apparent reason. It may be that, for rock critics, what seems the most important of the five senses is also the most vulnerable. For a few years at the beginning of the 1990s I reviewed a lot of gigs for the Daily Mail, an experience that gradually eroded my desire ever to see live music again, and, after a particularly deafening Tina Turner concert in Antwerp, curtailed my ability to. For ten days after this dismal, sweaty event, I had savage ringing in my ears. I felt I could go on no longer, and retired immediately from the gig treadmill. The tinnitus gradually subsided to manageable levels, and didn’t really bother me until a couple of years ago. Then, overnight, thanks (I believe) to a series of highly stressful events, the volume was suddenly turned up, and every day I found I was inadvertently listening to something a little like Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music.
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Walt the Psalt
February 29th, 2008 3:19pmThey crossed when that woman uttered "if young men had old men's brains and old men had young men's bodies, watch out!" It does seem particularly cruel that just about the time you start to realise that you've got most things figured out and you can actually do something about it, suddenly, you can't, any more. Like gardening.
Simon Newton
March 4th, 2008 12:33amMarcus Berkmann describes vividly the conequence of listening to loud music for prolonged periods, noise induced hearing loss (NIHL)(sociacusis). The damage to the inner ear is irremediable and permanent. His description of the after effect of the Tina Turner concert in Antwerp is typical of temporary threshold shift leading to permanent injury. The problem with NIHL, especially in the male of the species who have 'softer ears' is that it does not appear when the damage is done. It apppears in later life when the damage done by NIHL combines with the ageing process (presbyacusis) from which we all suffer in varying degrees. The combined damage arrive typically in the late 40's early 50's and is then often accompanied by tinitus, once more vivdly described by Marcus (did he real mean 'auditory' danger?). I often wonder why old rock band members are not as deaf as posts; possibly some are. The explanation might be that they spend their time (not for a whole concert) BEHIND speakers which pump out the dangerous levels of noise. Their victims are in front of speakers, pressing to get as close to their idols as possible. They like Marcus are bound to suffer, but they are volunteers. I wonder whether he has a claim against his employers. He says the problem arose a couple of years ago and he went to his GP who diagnosed the problem. So, time is running out and he should act promptly. I think his article should be read by or to every adolescent at school with an appropriate explanation and warning. The warning will probably be ignored by most Jokes about turning a deaf ear are not funny) and the damage will be done to yet another generation. On the other hand, they will not be able to say they were not told.