Tuning in to the new normal: Don’s story

I'll go back a little ways because I think this gets to the heart of the matter of how people deal with hearing loss. I started playing music at an early age and played as loud as possible. I also exposed myself to all sorts of loud music. The thing is, when you're young, you have a pretty good recovery time. It's not until you get older that the damage really starts to take place. So when I had the hearing test in 2017 and learned that I had high-frequency hearing loss, I didn't take it to heart because I didn’t really hear the problem. I pretended it wasn’t an issue because I didn’t understand that more damage could occur.

When I recently got hit with the additional low-frequency loss, it was devastating. When there aren’t any lower frequencies, I can get disoriented. And certain sounds are irritating because my high frequencies are damaged, and I’m left with this nasty mid-range. Tuning the guitar is also an issue, especially on stage. I used to fly between tunings. Now it takes more time. I think I'm in tune, but when I play a chord, I know something's really off. So I now have to rely on tuning devices to help.

On stage, the volume's too much, the bass is off, and I can't process the sound properly. The problem is that I hear different things in each ear. And now I also understand the anxiety and sense of isolation that comes with hearing loss – and the fact I can no longer really trust my ears.

Right now, I'm just trying to understand what the new normal is. I think I'm going to have to experiment with a range of hearing protection because most block out too much sound. Since I have played my songs so many times, I kind of go through the motions. But one of the reasons I play music is that it makes me feel good, like ice cream, right? When it’s not sounding good or feeling good, it's just irritating. That’s the part I'm fighting with. I know I love this and am trying to find solutions to keep going and find the joy in it again. But I do know one thing: no matter what’s going on, my love and passion for music took me this far in life. I will find solutions because they're out there – or find a new normal I can be comfortable with.

But while I’ve been trying to come to terms with this and figure out how to deal with the situation, I started thinking about how my close friend, Rick Hansen, dealt with the aftermath of an accident we were both in, and one that left him disabled. I realized I had learned a lesson I'd forgotten about. Rick ended up becoming a renowned wheelchair athlete, and from 1985 to 1987 went on the “Man in Motion World Tour” to create awareness of accessibility and make a difference. As I was part of the entire tour, I saw firsthand how he showed people that by removing barriers, they could reach their full potential in life.

It was through that experience and my work with Rick’s foundation – and then other organizations, like the Vancouver Adaptive Music Society and the Empower Through Music Society, which helps kids in underserved communities – that I gained a whole new awareness. There are just so many people out there dealing with different, sometimes extreme types of challenges. So remembering this kind of made me flip the script. I realized I could also use my passion as a bridge to find solutions and spread the word about both preventing hearing loss and adapting to it.

I know you can't preach to people. You can't even tell people the truth about some things because some people won't hear it, like in my case. But the message I want to share is that hearing is a critical part of your health. You should go get a hearing test and start treating it like you do with other parts of your health – diet, exercise and everything else. Once you know you've got some hearing loss, you need to treat it because it's only going to get worse. And you might experience something I had never experienced before: anxiety. People told me about anxiety, but when it happened, it was shocking. You may have a good support network around you, but it doesn't help. The sense of isolation is just incredible.

So I know that I need to come at this with a human approach. Luckily, the profession I’m in allows me to do that and maybe even change one life at a time. When I do a show, I get to tell a story about each song. No matter what the story is, there are at least two or three people in the audience who will connect with it. This is why I have written and recorded a new instrumental piece, which I plan to introduce with a story about this new life-changing journey I've had. The song is about coming to terms with a hearing problem, the shock of putting in hearing aids for the first time, and then finding a personal passion to be able to move forward.

For me, creating was my first passion, which is why I have chosen to use it to fight back and adapt. If I can influence even one person to better protect their hearing and/or use hearing aids to deal with hearing loss, that’s a good thing. Maybe I’ve slipped into the new normal after all.