TIME September 26, 1988 "A Fire Hose Down the Ear Canal"
These days, even rockers are admitting their hearing is shot
BY ANASTASIA TOUFEXIS "You're going to lose your hearing if
you keep listening to all that loud music," parents railed
right from the beginning. "No way!" offspring scoffed, and
gleefully cranked up Hot Tuna another punishing notch.
Today that parental admonition is being echoed by a new --
and more credible -- source: rock musicians. John Flansburgh
of the cult band They Might Be Giants half jokingly says:
"Deafness is one of the little sacrifices you have to make
for rock." Three decades after the rock revolution, more and
more performers are discovering that their hearing is permanently
damaged. "It's pretty apparent for everyone who has been in
the business," notes Charles Blanket, a New York City sound
engineer. Commander Cody, a rock musician in the San Francisco
Bay area, suffers from tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. So
does Lenny Kaye, a journeyman guitarist who played with the
Patti Smith Group. Singer and Bassist Kathy Peck, who had
a gig in 1980 at a San Francisco nightspot called the Deaf
Club, where deaf patrons danced to the music's vibrations,
has lost 40% of the hearing in her right ear and wears a hearing
aid.
Peck, for one, has found the price of devotion to rock unnecessarily
steep. She and Dr. Flash Gordon of the Haight-Ashbury Free
Clinic recently founded an outfit named HEAR (for Hearing
Education Awareness for Rockers) to alert performers, technicians
and concert-hall staffers to the perils of pounding music
and the precautions that can be taken. First among them: regular
hearing checkups. They hope the message will filter down to
young fans.
The damage is insidious. Noise above 100 decibels -- a whining
power saw, for example -- flattens the tiny hairs in the inner
ear that transmit sound to the nerves. These hairs usually
return to normal, but repeated assaults by high-decibel rock
-- concerts routinely hover around 120 -- can cause them to
lose their resilience permanently. Stereo earphones blasting
away for hours may be a greater threat than concerts. Says
Audiologist Dr. Thomas H. Fay, of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical
Center in New York City: "It's like the nozzle of a fire hose
has been stuck down the ear canal." The strain on rockers'
ears is slowly easing. Musicians no longer perform before
walls of loudspeakers. Today giant speakers are relegated
to the sides of the stage or suspended from the proscenium.
"Half the concerts are quieter on the stage than anywhere
else in the house," notes Flansburgh.
Many rockers now sport protective gear during practice sessions
and even during performances. Saxophonist Benjamin Bossi of
the Ordinaires, a New York City- based band, dons headphones
before concerts. Fred Schneider, vocalist for the B-52's,
stuffs tissue into his ears. Rock Promoter Bill Graham, who
is shepherding the current Amnesty International tour, keeps
vats of earplugs available for everyone from security guards
to roadies. Fans, too, are being urged to plug up. Perhaps
the best role model is Alexa Ray, the 2 1/2-year-old daughter
of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, who flaunts ear protectors
at Dad's shows. The ultimate solution, of course, is simply
to turn the volume down. Heresy? Perhaps. Better hearing?
For sure.
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