By Sue Baker
Les Paul, whose birthday was June 9, 1915, was famous for the solid body electric guitar and many innovations related to recording music. He also had compromised hearing, and wore hearing aids in both ears. Although his hearing loss was not caused by loud noise, almost all of his rock musician friends had some level of hearing loss from performing and being around loud music. Les and most of his musician friends also had tinnitus.
In his autobiography, “Les Paul in His Own Words,” Les shares how he lost his hearing:
“I was very fortunate with my new Gibson deal, but my luck went the other way when an old friend who came to visit playfully cuffed the side of my head with his open hand.… He didn’t hit me hard, but his open palm just happened to clap over my right ear, and the sudden pressure popped my eardrum. And it was very bad because an infection got started and developed into mastoiditis, which creates a lot of rotten wood and swelling that puts pressure on the brain.
Legendary musician Les Paul spent his whole life looking for the perfect sound. Ironically, for a good portion of his life he had to pursue his passion for sound while wearing hearing aids.
“I was left with a constant pounding, like I had Buddy Rich in my ear. This was driving me mad [so] I went to Dr. Moore, an ear specialist at New York Hospital, who took one look and said, ‘We’re operating tomorrow.’ … [After the surgery] to my great relief, the constant pounding stopped. Buddy Rich was gone, but so was most of the hearing in that ear, and there was no getting it back.
“And then, unbelievably, a very similar thing happened [a few years later] with the other ear when… a guitar player I knew came up behind me to do the ‘guess who?’ thing. Somehow, his hand slapped over my good ear, and I heard the eardrum pop just like before. I didn’t say anything to the guy, never did tell him, but I excused myself and went to my room and just cried because now both ears were blown, and both by accidents where a friend just accidentally hit me in the ear.
“I had to have a total of five operations on my inner ear and eardrums. My hearing was permanently impaired, and I’ve been dependent on hearing aids ever since. And one of the things I’m working on now is finding ways to improve the hearing aid.”
The book was published in 2006, and Les continued his work on hearing aids until he passed away in 2009.
The Les Paul Foundation continues Les’s search to improve hearing through annual funding to Hearing Health Foundation’s Emerging Research Grants program to find a cure for tinnitus.
Sue Baker is the Les Paul Foundation’s program director. In addition to supporting tinnitus research through HHF’s Emerging Research Grants program, the Les Paul Foundation also supports grassroots efforts to encourage young people to protect their hearing. Print and video resources are available at lespaulfoundation.org/education.
