3 Famous People That Overcame Hearing Loss

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton served as the 42nd president United States and was found to have high frequency hearing loss during a yearly physical exam. It is suspected that his advancing age and recreational activities, namely hunting, listening to loud music and playing in a band contributed to his hearing loss. Like most people with high-frequency hearing loss Clinton has difficulty following conversation with a lot of background noise. Political events and busy restaurants would be two situations where Clinton would have difficulty understanding speech. To help overcome his hearing loss he was fitted with "completely-in-canal" hearing aids that are essentially invisible.

As a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Starkey Hearing Foundation pledged to fit more than 1 million hearing aids for people in the developing world by the year 2020.

William Shatner

Canadian actor William Shatner suffers from tinnitus. The condition is commonly defined as the hearing of sound (often described as a buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling) when no external sound is present. Famous for playing Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, Shatner attributes the onset of his tinnitus to a special effects explosion that occurred on the set of Star Trek while filming the episode “Arena”.

William Shatner speaks about his tinnitus and the work that the American Tinnitus Association

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is the only artist to be inducted into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame three times. Once as a solo artist and then as a member of the band Yardbirds and then again as a member of the power trio Cream. The legendary guitarist, singer, songwriter survived drug addiction and alcoholism to eventually found a facility for recovering substance abusers called the Crossroads Centre on the island of Antigua. Clapton suffers from tinnitus he believes was caused by his love of loud music in the recording studio and in concert.

When the engineer complained that his amp was too loud, Eric replied “That’s the way I play.”

When was you last hearing test?  Do you have symptoms of tinnitus?  We can help!  Make an appointment today for a full hearing evaluation. Call the Polo Park Hearing Centre (204) 788-1083 Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.