http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1202105/Loud-rock-music-wrecked-hearing-says-Dire-Straits-star--Now-iPod-generation-risk.htmlLoud rock music wrecked my hearing, says Dire Straits star... Now iPod generation is at risk
By Bonnie Estridge
Last updated at 10:05 PM on 25th July 2009
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On a hot August night in 1991, thousands of fans packed into Dublin's RDS Arena to see Dire Straits. As Mark Knopfler played the opening chords of Money For Nothing, the crowd went wild, the noise carrying far across the city. It was the start of a 252-gig world tour that would see the band play to 4.9million people over the next two years.
As they left the stage that night, exhausted but on a well-earned high, bass guitarist John Illsley's euphoria was dampened by an insistent ringing in his ears.
But it was hardly surprising given that at every gig he was exposing his ears to damaging levels of decibels. After touring constantly from 1976 to 1992, he has now sustained considerable hearing loss, something that he readily admits was inevitable.
Sound advice: Dire Straits guitarist John Illsley wants people to be aware of the damage loud music can cause
'After every gig, my ears would be ringing loudly for at least an hour - ears are particularly sensitive to pumping bass,' says Illsley, now 60.
'As the Straits became more successful we could afford better equipment and the stage sound was more controllable but the ringing was still there after every show. Playing a stadium filled with 50,000 people for years on end was, for me, going to work.
'In the early days of the Straits the sound systems were primitive,' he recalls. 'You had the PA speakers which faced the audience and a monitor speaker on stage for each band member so he could hear the mixed sound that came through it.
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'There were no noise regulations as there are now, so all four of us - Mark and David Knopfler and our original drummer Pick Withers - turned up our monitors to the maximum volume, as did every other band we came across.
'I would turn mine up as much as I could because I didn't want to be drowned out by the drums.
'When you consider that, at the time, we were in very small venues where the stage might be just 12ft wide you'd be practically on top of the drum kit anyway, so it's not difficult to imagine the impact this had on our hearing.'
Fans of the later, bigger gigs and those standing near the massive 'bass bins' (huge speakers which cause so much vibration that they can smash windows) would tell Illsley, quite happily, that they 'felt as though their insides were moving around'.
'If the music was doing that to their insides, goodness knows what was going on in their ears,' he says.
'We did think that perhaps we should turn down the sound but we also knew that - both to play and to listen to - music is far more exciting when it is loud. I very much doubt that our audiences would have appreciated us lowering the volume rather than pumping it up.
'By the Eighties there was a certain amount of health and safety legislation regarding noise levels and often someone from the local council would be measuring the decibels and trying to edge us down in volume, usually unsuccessfully.'
But it's not just rock musicians who are paying the price for their love of music. The iPod generation, clubbers and festival-goers are unwittingly exposing delicate hearing mechanisms to noise well above the healthy top level of about 55 decibels.
The statistics are shocking - 75 per cent of under-55s have difficulty with their hearing, according to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID). Scientists estimate that the nation's hearing is being - or has been - damaged mainly by exposure to loud music of 85 decibels and above.
Strait man: John Illsley pictured on tour with Mark Knopfler
'When you consider a bass amplifier at a rock gig pumps out 110 to 130 decibels - a jet engine is 110 and loud screaming is 115 to 120 - and MP3 players are capable of up to 110 decibels, it's little wonder that a large portion of the population are partially deaf,' says Sam Dickson, hearing-aid audiologist at Amplifon in London.
'I've tested the hearing of musicians and those who listen to loud music for more than 30 minutes a day - whether performing or through an MP3 player - and many say they have ears that ring like empty shells.'
These days, musicians can, to a large extent, look after the health of their ears by using 'in-ear monitors' through which they can hear the mixed sound of the band at a controllable and comfortable level, which should help prevent the problems that Illsley and other rock stars have encountered.
'I became aware of my hearing loss about ten years ago when I went for a medical, and I was really shocked,' says Illsley.
'At that point, I knew I had some muffled hearing but nothing as much as 30 per cent loss - which is what it turned out to be.
'I had always asked for things to be repeated on my bad - or left - side but it had not really been a problem. I believe the boys in the band were affected by hearing loss, too - it's difficult not to be. But with real advances in personal sound monitoring, it should be possible to prevent any further deterioration.'
But Illsley - who has four children, James, 27, Jessica, 21, Harry, 12, and eleven-year-old Dee Dee, the older two from his first wife Pauline and the younger two with his second wife Stephanie - is worried about the devastating impact of loud music on the younger generation.
He would like to see sound levels, particularly in clubs, made safer, something that has become even more pertinent since James has developed tinnitus, a condition in which the sufferer hears a ringing sound in the ears.
'A few weeks ago, James went to a club and came back in a lot of pain. He said it felt as though his ears were bleeding. They weren't, but he has had ringing in them ever since which is worrying.
'He has seen various specialists who have said that it should go in time but perhaps not completely. From now on, though, James has been advised to avoid any excess sound levels because this could really exacerbate the problem and make it permanent.
'It is worrying because it's very difficult for the "sound police" to monitor all the clubs - there are so many of them it's just not feasible. Even I was affected when I went to Glastonbury last month and my ears were really hurting when some of the bands came on stage.'
Illsley says that because he always stood to the right of the stage, it is his left ear that has taken a real battering from Dire Straits' music.
John Illsley with his son James, who is suffering from tinnitus
'I am very lucky that I haven't ended up with permanent tinnitus,' he admits. 'But losing at least 30 per cent is losing a third of your hearing in one ear, although I cope pretty well.
'However, I don't like noisy restaurants at all because I find it difficult to differentiate sounds and hear what people are saying. Unfortunately, a lot of restaurants confuse noise with atmosphere.'
Dr Mark Downs, of the RNID, says: 'Noise-induced hearing loss occurs through damage to the tiny sensory hair cells in the inner ear. The extent of noise damage is a result of both the loudness of the sound and the length of exposure time. Once this damage is done, the effects are permanent and cannot be reversed.
'When hair cells are exposed to extreme levels of noise, or very loud sound over time, the normal biological mechanisms to protect them stop working properly, leading to cell damage.
'Eventually, these unique cells die. Our bodies cannot naturally replace them and the hearing loss becomes permanent.
'Most of us will have experienced the early tell-tale signs of potential damage to our hearing from the effects of a night out at a pub, club or gig but this does not apply only to rock fans - whether your taste is Blur or Beethoven you need to take care. Classical music can be just as damaging.
'The symptoms of this are dull or fuzzy hearing and ringing in the ears or inside the head, which is called tinnitus.
'This is a warning sign that the ears are trying to protect themselves or that damage has already been done,' Dr Downs says.
'Fortunately, most noise-induced tinnitus can be temporary. However, if your ears are consistently exposed to loud noise then you may not be so lucky because permanent tinnitus can be a debilitating, distressing condition.
He adds: 'We recommend wearing good attenuating ear plugs which filter sound but don't block it out whenever one is exposed to loud music.'
Illsley is now living a much quieter life with Stephanie, 42, in Winchester and has avoided the usual rock-star excesses of drink and drugs.
'I hate to sound boring,' he says, 'but we didn't get half-cut before going on stage and thought it would have been disrespectful to the audience.
'We prided ourselves on performance and quality and only ever cancelled one gig - and that was because the stage collapsed before we got on it.'
Ten years ago, Illsley helped set up the Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine - a complementary health clinic near his home - with Dr Julian Kenyon, a medical doctor, integrated medicine physician and founder chairman of the British Medical Acupuncture Society.
The sound of silence: Listening to loud music on an MP3 player can damage your hearing
'I had a burst appendix and developed peritonitis over Christmas in 1997,' says Illsley.
'I was seriously ill and it took me six months to recover. The whole experience was extremely unpleasant and I became interested in homeopathy and complementary treatments.
'When Julian mentioned the fact that he was thinking of starting a clinic, particularly to help restore the health of cancer patients who have been through chemo and radiotherapy, I wanted to become involved and so I helped set up the business.'
Until recently, Illsley had retired from music to focus on his other passion, painting (he is a well-known exhibited artist). He also helps educate schoolchildren around the UK about risks from drugs, cigarettes and alcohol through the charity Life Education. And now he has recorded two albums and taken to the stage again with Irish rock band Cunla and singer Greg Pearle.
So is a revival of Dire Straits on the cards? 'I would love to get back together,' he says, although Mark Knopfler is apparently none too keen. 'You never know. But if it does happen, this time I'll make damn sure I look after my ears.'
