Famous People With Tinnitus

Tinnitus Sufferers

Lots of well known people are tinnitus suffers. Famous people with tinnitus are numerous in the entertainment field and especially in the rock music world. And thanks to the high decibel quality of today's personal entertainment devices, doctors are wondering if it's just a matter of time before tinnitus strikes an entire generation. Signs that it can happen are already there.

Back in the 60's, doctors were already telling us prolonged exposure to loud ear noises would eventually lead to hearing loss. Now 40 years later, we're finding out just how right they were.

Among the celebrity rockers who now hear ear noises that won't go away: Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds, John Entwhistle and Pete Townschend of The Who. Townschend is completely deaf in one ear, a condition caused by the combination of an onstage explosion, loud stage music, and highly pumped up volume in headsets as he listened to playbacks of studio cuts.

Neil Young of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Ted Nugent, Huey Lewis, and Bono (U2) are also on the list. Rockers from other groups (Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, My Bloody Valentine, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) now hear noises in their ears too. Even the late George Harrison of the Beatles was not immune.

Extremely loud on stage noises seem to be an occupational hazard. Both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had ear noises from damage suffered during a prop explosion when they were filming a Star Trek episode four decades ago.

Tinnitus, which is the medical term for the common ear condition known as "ringing in the ear" has also been diagnosed in hundreds of celebrities. Click here to see a more extensive list.