Famous people with Tinnitus

Do you suffer from tinnitus? Then you are definitely not the only one, in the Netherlands alone about 1.5 million people suffer from it. But as you can see from the companions below, you are in good company! The main cause remains overload by sound, although there are of course other causes (click here) 

Ellen ten Damme

Ellen ten Damme has an important message: Let's get tinnitus out of the way.  “You have to imagine that you hear my voice with a beep, a noise, a hum, a kind of train. Tinnitus is a condition affecting 15% of the population with no solution in sight. Imagine living like this for the rest of your life, you don't want to.” Wear ear protection to a (pop) concert and turn down the volume of your earplugs! 

Bill Clinton

Former president, saxophone player and rock concert goer Bill Clinton is plagued by tinnitus. His campaign rally and flights in the presidential helicopters may have exacerbated his tinnitus. He has a pair of virtually invisible hi-tech digital hearing aids to compensate for the loss of the treble.

Ludwig von Beethoven

It is well known that Ludwig von Beethoven became deaf, but he was not yet thirty years old when his hearing started to deteriorate and it started with tinnitus! His style changed as his hearing problem worsened. In his younger years he was best known for his virtuoso piano sonatas with fast tempo changes and many high notes. From the moment he became deaf, he wrote heavier music, in which many more low notes occurred.

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton announced in 2018 that he has hearing problems, tinnitus and is slowly becoming deaf. He himself reported: “I suffer from noise in my ear. When I was in the Cream group in the 60's I played really hard. That must probably be the cause.” 
“I'm going deaf, I have tinnitus. My hands just work. I now hope that even more people will come and see me, because they are now curious about me. I know that's part of it, because I find it unbelievable that I'm still here."

Jett Rebel

Because singer Jett Rebel has been busy with music a lot and intensively, he has suffered hearing damage, which also caused him to suffer from tinnitus. Fortunately, it turns out that Jett has learned to live with it a bit. He has been wearing hearing protection consistently ever since. Are you also looking for ear protection as a musician?  

Phil Collins

That Tinnitus does not always have to be caused by excessive noise is shown by the story of Phil Collins, who lost all hearing in his right ear in the year 2000 due to an ear attack, probably caused by stress. His ear later partially recovered, but despite this, Collins indicated a few years later that he no longer wanted to tour, partly because of his hearing loss.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is very open about her hearing loss and tinnitus. She wears hearing aids in both ears and thinks the very loud music she's been listening to for years is to blame.

Vincent van Gogh

Epilepsy, depression, insanity, Meniere,  all kinds of illnesses have been suggested over the years as the cause, but Vincent Van Gogh may have cut off his left ear to get rid of the tinnitus that had plagued him for a long time. But on the other hand, these may be far-reaching speculations to indicate how dramatic ringing in the ears can be. 

 

Prevention is better than cure.

Musicians nowadays also wear so-called in-ear monitors. These monitors contain electronics and loudspeakers, called drivers, with which the music is passed on at a not harmful but loud enough volume. As with regular speakers, these in-ear monitors also have two-way and three-way systems that reproduce the low tones, the mids and the highs well. As a result, the basses, vocals and the high frequencies of instruments are clearly audible. (Source: Hoorzaken.nl )