Pete's hearing

[James L Jackson <jacksonj@battelle.org>]

Chris, WFang, re:
          
>Since around '85 or so, Pete started developing some serious hearing problems 
>and was advised by his doctors that he'd end up DEAF if he kept playing live. 
>Obviously Pete kept on playing... 

Pete's hearing problems can be dated as far back as 78. See TKAA movie whe he 
and Keith joke about it.

By '89, his ears were in sad shape, often suffering from "ringing" 
(telephone-in-ear syndrome--jk) with loud noise. 

The condition is referred to as tinnitus.


>Apparently the booze knocked out his normal protection mechanisms that would 
>have told him that his ears HURT...

This is Pete's theory and I don't know if it's legit. I don't know of the 
relationship between alcohol and auditory processing. 

>In order to do '89, he had to lower the volume on stage, and as a result, '89 
>was a much quieter Who tour... Pete protected his hearing as much as possible 
>considering the circumstances.

Which meant that he had to avoid lead guitar, with its higher pitched 
frequencies, from blasting right into his ears, which he would have gotten had 
he been in front of his stack. By having Bolton do it, the leads weren't 
coming from his equipment into his ears. Also, I noted on the tour that they 
had a number of speakers in front of the stage (definitely not your usual Who 
setup). I noted at the Cleveland show I saw that feeback really bothered Pete. 
When he got some, he would move away from his mic and/or stop singing. He did 
play some near-lead guitar on that tour, but once a Townshend...

>According to Pete, by '93... most of the problems that he suffered from (in 
>terms of the ringing) were gone, and the same problem didn't affect him 
>anymore...

I hadn't heard that his tinnitus had gone. Hearing threshold shifts are 
caused when the hair cells in the cochlea lay down flat due to excessively 
vibratiing (to send the proper signals to the auditory processing centers in 
the temporal lobes). The hair cells in the cochlea can prop back up, after 
being away from the intense stimulation, but I wouldn't think it possible in 
Pete's case. Maybe he doesn't notice his tinnitus because he drinks again. 
Maybe it's true--he's only normal when he drinks.  
          
          
--Jim