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How professional sound engineers & sound artist are dealing with hearing loss and tinnitus seems to be a topic that very few dare to discuss openly.

Here I share my story, and give you my thoughts on the tools that i use to make it possible to continue work professionally within the music and pro sound business, even though I am having a hearing loss, tinnitus and related hearing issues.

Per Moneeo

Sound Engineer & Sound Artist

This is my journey as a professional sound engineer and sound artist, where I share my experience how I deal with my newly developed hearing loss, and how to be able to continue to work in the Music & Art industry.

My hearing went from “normal” to hearing loss, in just a couple of weeks due to a Covid infection. This was a totally disaster for me to realize, since music and sound has always been the meaning of my life.

When I tried to seek advice from other engineers, organizations and blogs about how other sound engineer’s in my situation are dealing with this – I was struck by the fact that this is an issue that very few are talking about in the pro audio business. That is something that I want to change.

Per Moneeo

Sound Engineer & Sound Artist

Per Moneeo behind a mixing console

This is my journey as a professional sound engineer and sound artist, where I share my experience how I deal with my newly developed hearing loss, and how to be able to continue to work in the Music & Art industry.

My hearing went from “normal” to hearing loss, in just a couple of weeks due to a Covid infection. This was a totally disaster for me to realize, since music and sound has always been the meaning of my life.

When I tried to seek advice from other engineers, organizations and blogs about how other sound engineer’s in my situation are dealing with this – I was struck by the fact that this is an issue that very few are talking about in the pro audio business. That is something that I want to change.

Per Monee

Sound Engineer & Sound Artist

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers

Yes, you can use hearing aids and still do a godd mix-job. In fact the majority of the people working with sound and music professinally dont have flawless hearing. Many of us suffer from hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacussis and other damage, from working many years in a high risk environemnt where musicians and audience are using hearing protection – but not the engineer.

When your hearing is starting to degrade, hearing aids are a great tools to make sure that you actually know how to EQ your mix correctly.

Hearing Aids wont bring your hearing back to normal, but they will give you a lot of your qualities in ilfe back, and make sure that you get the frequencies you mix under control.

I decided to go very public when i got my first hearing aids. I wrote a long post on Facebook telling everybody about my situation and that i was going to get me hearing aids, and continue working in the pro audio industry.

 

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and i could see that my clients where responding, either by a “like” or by commenting. In that way i could verify that they where aware of my situation.

I have only received postitive feedback from my clients, and they have kept booking me for gigs.

I have not lost one single client after telling about my hearing loss. In fact, i have got lots of great comments, and clients opening up about their own hearing issues, and how they are dealing with it.

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