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'My ears would be ringing like an old fire bell when I'd lay me down in some cheap motel'...

Tinnitus sufferer Guy Kawasaki links to this page Famous People with Tinnitus

I knew Pete Townsend had suffered major hearing problems from his years of playing but some of the others on the list came as a surprise. William Shatner's was so bad it led to the breakup of his marriage and he even contemplated suicide.  Others include Charles Darwin, Bono, Jimmy Saville and Garrison Keillor.

I've been plagued with tinnitus for the last 18 years or so. I can pinpoint the exact occasion when the damage was done. I was at a club listening to a very loud local band while standing next to a bloody great speaker.  It comes and goes in intensity (it's particularly bad at present thanks to a heavy cold) but it never goes away. At least it isn't accompanied by any substantial hearing loss, beyond the usual diminution in high frequency hearing which is fairly usual as we get older.