AC/DC’s Brian Johnson Details the Tech That Helped Him Overcome His Hearing Loss

Last Sunday AC/DC singer Brian Johnson was being interviewed on Matt Everitt’s BBC Radio 6 Music program “First Time With…” where Johnson talks about the challenges he has faced when he lost his hearing and how new technology brought the hearing back.

During the interview Johnson reflected on the hearing loss which made him to miss shows on AC/DC’s spring and summer 2016 North American tour.

“You get into your motorcar and you can’t tell who’s singing the song; you can’t tell the song. It’s just this noise. It’s horrible… It’s just a ‘musicy’ noise, but you don’t know what key it’s in; you can’t hear who’s singing it; you can’t tell if it’s Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger. It’s a horrible gray area. I think I called it a murderous silence, and it certainly is. But I did it the way I always do it… I got the best whisky I could have… I tried to forget all about it and didn’t answer the phone. I wouldn’t talk to any kind of press, ’cause they were like vultures coming in. I just kept myself to myself.”

Despite the challenges Johnson faced with hearing loss, he sought help from audio expert Stephen Ambrose, who did mention he can help solve Johnson‘s hearing problems. Ambrose invented the wireless in-ear monitors and he has claimed to have invented a new type of ear-bud that will allow Johnson to perform without causing anymore damage to his eardrums. After three years of experimenting, Johnson has stated that the technology can allow him to perform again.

“Stephen Ambrose, who did [the in-ear monitors], he put them in and was trying them, developing them. And I could see there was light at the end of the tunnel. But it was a long way off. And then the great thing was Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] phoned up and he just said, ‘Hey, them in-ears working?’ I said, ‘Brilliant.’ He said, ‘You wanna do an album?’ I went, ‘I’ll be there yesterday.'” said Johnson.

According to Johnson he is not the only musician who has benefited from Ambrose’s creation. “It’s already helped K.D. Lang,” he revealed. “She was gonna retire. We sent it out to her, and she started crying on the Zoom. And she’s back out on the road now. Huey Lewis needs it. A lot of people now, because it’s something new, it can be scary. But it isn’t. It’s just absolutely wonderful… We wanna get it out to the public to make it cheap enough so we can help people who are really deaf — in warzones and soldiers and guys who worked on aircraft and tank drivers.”