In a new video series launching during October’s National Protect Your Hearing Month, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) explores the stories of people from all walks of life who describe their day-to-day struggles dealing with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and tinnitus.
The series kicks off with the flagship video, “A Few Words About Hearing” (3:30).
The video includes sometimes heartbreaking accounts by individuals whose lives have been upended by NIHL and tinnitus and regrets about how easily they could have protected their hearing at concerts and noisy jobs, as well as while playing loud music or video games over headphones.
These nine powerful stories elevate HHF’s “Keep Listening” prevention campaign message: We can all avoid hearing loss from noise—and the serious brain, heart, and mental problems that can come with it—through precautions like earplugs and turning down the sound on personal listening devices.
“Keep Listening” aims to kick off a major culture shift so that everyone will protect their hearing in the same way we all now routinely protect our skin from harmful rays and our lungs from cigarette smoke.
Jon Barton, now in his 40s, says he’d tell his younger self: “Wear your damn earplugs. You have nothing to lose but your hearing. No one else is going to do it for you.” Barton is a Marine infantry veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jon Barton is a Marine infantry veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The pressure from a rocket propelled grenade aimed at where his team was bivouacked pierced his eardrum, and as a platoon commander he rode in noisy light armored vehicles. Now in his 40s, he says he would tell his younger self, “Wear your damn earplugs. You have nothing to lose but your hearing. No one else is going to do it for you.”
Barton is a consultant on films and video games about combat and war and, following the video interview, admitted he did not realize that playing video games with the volume turned up on his headphones—one of the ways he and his buddies relax—is potentially worsening his hearing loss and tinnitus.
Distracting Tinnitus
One of the more heartbreaking stories shared came from Erin Nolan who served in the Navy and has two young children. Nolan damaged her hearing—she has tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears) and hearing loss—resulting from her service. She says: “When the tinnitus starts coming in, it draws all my focus. All I hear is that ringing. I can’t hear what you’re saying when it’s going. It can last two minutes or 15 minutes of time, multiple times a day, multiple times a week.”
Erin Nolan, a Navy veteran, says her chronic tinnitus is especially upsetting when her young children are speaking to her but she can’t process what they’re saying because the tinnitus is drawing all her focus. “I worry they think that Mommy doesn’t care because she isn’t listening,” she says.
Nolan describes one of the most difficult aspects of tinnitus as a mother—when her children are excitedly sharing the day’s events with her but she can’t process what they’re saying because of the buzzing in her ears. “I don’t want them to think Mommy doesn’t care, that I’m not listening, but it’s hard to focus on what they are saying because of the ringing in my ears.”
Emotional Turmoil
Daniel Rivera, a structural engineer, describes his emotional turmoil caused by debilitating tinnitus, which he developed after attending an eight-hour concert. Rivera says he now sees that his hearing may have already been impaired because he listened to music on headphones, loudly, in grad school to tune out ambient noises when studying. This may have primed his ears to be further damaged at the concert.
After two years of learning to cope and live with his tinnitus, Rivera says he can now again go to concerts and other events that get loud—always wearing earplugs and taking listening breaks—but that if he starts feeling anxious and thinks he is endangering his hearing he will leave early.
“I think people aren’t educated about it. I didn't know that just one concert could affect me—and if I’m not aware of it, I’m sure a lot of people aren’t,” Rivera says.
“I was feeling so desperate. I remember thinking, Would I take off my arm to make this tinnitus go away?” says Daniel Rivera (on the screen, far left). “And thinking yes, I would take off my arm. It just gets to that point.”
The video series was shot in Los Angeles in August by the multimedia production company PICROW, which produced the Emmy-award winning TV series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” "Modern Love," “Transparent,” and “Goliath.” Director Peter Lang has helmed many films and videos including health related ones for the likes of USAA, MassMutual, Thomson Reuters, RWJBarnabas, and the University of Michigan Health.
“I was surprised to learn how pervasive noise-induced hearing loss is—up to 1 in 4 Americans!—I also didn’t know the significant correlation between untreated hearing loss and dementia,” Lang says. “People are in denial—until their hearing is damaged, or they get tinnitus, most people don’t want to think about protecting their hearing. I hope these short videos will get through to people and change some hearts and minds. That would be a really wonderful outcome”
Others filmed in the series include:
Chris Bailey, a drummer originally from London who has played with scores of artists including Britney Spears, Nick Jonas, Chaka Khan, and Boy George. He damaged his hearing from years of hard drumming. He is able to continue in the music industry and protects his hearing from getting worse.
Dennis D’Angelo is a guitarist, music producer, and sound engineer originally from Brazil. Along with teaching he plays in five bands and has musician friends with hearing loss. He is very careful to protect his hearing, including carrying around earplugs on his keychain, but says getting his girlfriend to protect hers has been a challenge.
Vocalist Princess Fortier is as careful about protecting her hearing as she is about protecting her voice. Learning there’s a connection between hearing health and brain health has also been eye-opening. “I also didn’t know that untreated hearing loss can actually lead to dementia,” she says.
Princess Fortier, a vocalist who has performed with Kanye West, Beck, and Diana Ross, makes sure to protect her hearing and understands that doing so is just as important as protecting her voice.
Kayleena Pierce-Bohen, a senior writer at an entertainment news site who damaged her hearing working in large nightclubs where earplugs were provided but not always worn. She also avoids flying because of ear pain and has occasional vertigo.
Mike O’Malley, a graduate student in San Diego, who damaged his hearing as a result of attending loud concerts and music festivals as a teen without hearing protection. He describes his tinnitus as “24/7, like hearing a tea kettle going off in the next room.”
Collins Peters, a music producer turned relationship counselor, damaged his hearing as a teenager, in large part due to using large woofers (bass speakers) in his car. His father told him “I can hear you coming down the block! You’ll kill your hearing!” but Collins didn’t listen, thinking himself invincible. Now like the others in the video series, he wants to make people aware that hearing loss from noise is a real risk.
Stay tuned to see the videos in October. For more, see hhf.org/keeplistening.
Dennis D’Angelo is shown on the monitor. Directed by Peter Lang, the new video series was shot in Los Angeles in August by the multimedia production company PICROW, which produced the Emmy-award winning TV series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” "Modern Love," “Transparent,” and “Goliath.”
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