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ANNOUNCEMENTS•
More and more people are hearing impaired and the Ministry of Health is concerned about this. For example, in a recent study in Rotterdam, one in seven children aged 9 to 11 were diagnosed with initial hearing loss. That’s why the Board of the Ministry of Health wants to know what needs to be done to prevent hearing damage. That advice comes on Wednesday.
Stephen Emmer is a celebrated composer of many television tunes, including that of the ANNOUNCEMENTS in avenue RTL, and also made the jingles for the television quiz shows. This week he announced that he is a tinnitus sufferer. “It’s taboo among musicians, composers and performers. While I estimate that up to a third of an average orchestra – including the best orchestras – suffer from it.”
From fighter jets to noise
Tinnitus or ringing in the ears it means you hear a continuous noise in your head. It can have several causes, including exposure to loud noises, such as at a concert, or a cold. It can also vary in severity, Emmer says. “From fighter jet to noise.” Tinnitus can lead to severe hearing loss.
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Emmer notes that musicians with tinnitus don’t talk about it out of fear of losing their jobs. “They don’t dare report it to the conductor or the management.” While tinnitus doesn’t have to mean you make less music, Emmer experiments. “I think I did my best work since the disturbance. I got awards for that too.”
Emmer is now coming out because he wants to unite the artists and thus ensure that a cure is sought. According to him, the pharmaceutical industry says it doesn’t bother people enough to develop medicines. “While a quarter to half of young people are at risk. That pharmaceutical industry statement is outdated.”
More research
Who also wants to act is René van der Heijden, who works in everyday life in the marketing and communication department of the NOS. He and others founded the Ear Fund because, according to him, almost no research is being done on hearing loss. He thinks it’s absurd that pharmaceutical companies are so uninterested in hearing damage. “They just canceled 1.8 million Dutch people.”
With the “Give Ear Research Hear” campaign, the Ear Fund supports more scientific research into solutions. Van der Heijden: “The research is working. Research has already been done on my ear condition: DFNA9. In theory, there is now a medicine for it, which raises the hope that my children will not get this hereditary deafness” .
The message is often: you just have to learn to live with it.
Tinnitus is just one of the many causes of hearing loss. Van der Heijden: “30 to 50 percent of people hear badly because of heredity.” And there is no real treatment. “The family doctor sends you to the hearing care professional or you just have to learn to live with it, is often the message.” Crazy, says Van der Heijden. “You don’t say that when someone gets sick, do you? That you just have to live with it?”
Van der Heijden acknowledges the hesitation to come out as hearing impaired. “Just like in the music industry, in the media world – and in other industries too – it’s taboo. If you say you have severe hearing loss, you’ve already been written off. It’s also associated with age when there are many young people with hearing problems to be.”
Hear the music
Needs to not only softer sound? There has been a call for lower volume in nightclubs and festivals, for example, but also in earphones or headphones. This is one of the steps, Emmer thinks: “The discussion about loud noise has now stalled. People in the music industry say you should hear music. This is a mistake. As a professional, I can tell you that sensation is also possible if the volume is softer. That’s why I want to unite the artists to say for themselves: this is it.”
Buma/Stemra supports composer Emmer. The music copyright interest group has 38,000 members, all of whom are music producers. Buma/Stemra thinks they definitely include people who suffer from hearing impairment and tinnitus and don’t dare say so.
NOS op 3 previously made this video about tinnitus:
