Limbaugh tells audience he's nearly deaf

[Gauracandra]

Limbaugh tells audience he's nearly deaf

October 9, 2001 Posted: 4:21 AM EDT (0821 GMT)

Rush Limbaugh

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh surprised his listeners with the revelation that he has gone almost completely deaf over the past few months.

 

Limbaugh, whose nationally syndicated talk show reaches some 20 million people on nearly 600 stations, said Monday that he wants to continue his show despite his impaired hearing.

 

"All I've lost is my ability to hear," he said, "but it doesn't mean I've lost my ability to communicate. Those are two different things, given the technological advances we have in this country today."

 

Limbaugh said he noticed in May that he had trouble hearing in his left ear. His condition progressively worsened to the point where he is totally deaf in that ear and has only partial hearing in his right ear.

 

"I can occasionally talk to people in person one on one if their voice frequency happens to fit the range that I can still hear, but I cannot hear radio," he said. "I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deaf -- and it's happened in three months."

 

Limbaugh said his hearing has worsened to the point that hearing aids no longer help. He said his hearing loss is not genetic, adding that doctors have a theory about why he's gone deaf, "but I'm going to keep that to myself."

 

He told listeners, "you would not believe the medication that is flowing through me in an attempt to reverse this."

 

Limbaugh, with his legion of like-minded "dittoheads" who listen to his nationally syndicated show live on weekday afternoons, is a legend of conservative commentary who spent most of the 1990s assailing then-President Clinton. He was frequently lampooned from the left, most notably by comedian Al Franken, who wrote a book titled "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" before Limbaugh lost weight.

 

The 50-year-old Limbaugh got his start in 1985 on KFBK in Sacramento, California, and became nationally syndicated in 1988.

 

This summer, Limbaugh renewed his contract with the Premiere Radio Networks through 2009, reportedly for the highest price ever in radio syndication. Representatives of Premiere Radio Networks could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

 

Limbaugh said Monday that many of his listeners had written to say that his voice had changed in recent months.

 

"It could well be that my voice is changing," he said. "I don't know. I cannot hear myself well enough to know."

 

He said he is experimenting with ways to continue communicating with telephone callers on his show. If that doesn't work, he may do the show without callers.

 

Limbaugh had a syndicated television talk show that lasted four years and ended in 1996. CNN, which Limbaugh frequently derided as the "Clinton News Network," talked briefly about putting him on the air this summer, but nothing came of the discussions.

 

Limbaugh also briefly sought a color commentator job on ABC's "Monday Night Football," but the gig went to comedian Dennis Miller.

[Tarun]

I experienced deafness just after ZrIla ZrIdhar Mhrj departed.

1988-91 my ears were so stuffed.

I believe it was my reaction from listening to too much mundane sound vibration.

[Gauracandra]

I haven't listened to Limbaugh in years, but has he moved his operations down to Florida? It was always in New York, but this article seems to indicate its in Florida now. Must be getting ready to retire

 

Gauracandra

 

Limbaugh diagnosed with rare ear disease

October 11, 2001 Posted: 9:13 AM EDT (1313 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who announced this week that he has lost his hearing, suffers from a rare ear disease and is being treated by specialists in Los Angeles, doctors said Wednesday.

 

Limbaugh, 50, whose daily radio program is heard by 22 million listeners on 600 stations a week, has been diagnosed with auto-immune inner ear disease (AIED), which causes less than one percent of all cases of hearing loss, according to a statement from the House Ear Clinic and Institute in Los Angeles.

 

Doctors believe the ailment is caused by the body's immune system attacking the inner ear and damaging the hearing nerve.

 

Physicians at the House Ear Clinic are treating Limbaugh with medication, and "there is some potential for surgical treatment as well," the statement said. "The physicians are confident that with the proper treatment, Mr. Limbaugh will be able to retain some of his hearing."

 

The outspoken Florida-based radio host stunned listeners on Monday by announcing on his program, "I am, for all practical purposes, deaf," though he vowed to continue working. Limbaugh was back on the air Tuesday but took Wednesday off to consult with physicians in Los Angeles.

 

A spokesman said he was due back at work Thursday, while doctors at the House Ear Clinic planned to hold a news conference to discuss Limbaugh's condition and treatment. Kraig T. Kitchin, president and chief operating officer of Premiere Radio Networks, which distributes Limbaugh's program, also planned to attend the briefing.

 

Limbaugh in July signed a deal with Premiere, reportedly valued at $285 million, to keep his 13-year-old show on the air for another eight years.

 

A spokeswoman for Premiere told Reuters the radio network, owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. was committed to keeping Limbaugh on the air through 2009.

 

Limbaugh has said his hearing has steadily deteriorated since May when he discovered he heard nothing in his left ear. He said he can recognize sound but not identify it in his right ear.

 

A number of observers have said the revelation about Limbaugh's deafness explained why the radio host had sounded different on the air in recent months. Some said they believed that calls into the show were being transcribed onto a TelePrompTer for Limbaugh to read.