Due to hearing issues, KT Tunstall has cancelled her tour dates
KT Tunstall has postponed her tour plans due to hearing problems in her right ear. The singer previously lost her hearing in her left ear on a tour in 2018, and she is concerned that the same thing could happen to her right side. As a response, she’s postponing her headlining tour and postponing support dates with Hall & Oates, an 80s pop band. The decision was “very painful” for KT Tunstall, but she had to “put my hearing health first.”
The Scottish singer, whose successes include Suddenly I See and Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, stated earlier that her hearing loss was caused by years of listening to loud music without proper ear protection.
I’d never been particularly careful with my hearing over the years, she admitted earlier this year, particularly as a club member throughout my 20s and turning the volume up on terrible monitors at my early gigs. She acquired high-frequency hearing loss in her left ear around ten years ago, along with tinnitus, a constant, unavoidable ringing or roaring sound.
Then, in 2018, after a series of concerts, she developed acute sensory hearing loss in her left ear, rendering her completely deaf.
Tinnitus in her right ear has lately occurred in the singer-songwriter, raising concerns for her residual hearing. In a letter to fans, she stated that she would not cease performing live, but that she would establish a touring schedule that would allow her to get enough rest between shows to reduce the strain on her hearing.
My thoughts on going on tour so densely and sequentially have caused me to wonder if my remainder hearing will be able to handle it, and as a result, I’ve decided that the only healthy way forward for me as a ‘live’ musician is to basically ignore the tiredness and pressure that comes with long back-to-back tours.
The problem can be triggered by everyday exposure to loud, amplified music, but it can also afflict casual music listeners, with misuse of headphones and earbuds being a specific issue.
