Paul Simon Shares Update On Near-Total Hearing Loss In One Ear

Last May, legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon revealed that he had suffered near-total hearing loss in his left ear.

While promoting his latest album, Seven Psalms, Simon told the publication The Times that he had lost “most of the hearing” in his left ear during the recording process.

“Quite suddenly, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it,” he said. “So everything became more difficult.”

Simon admitted that he felt “frustration and annoyance” in the early stages of the life change but hoped that his ear would “repair itself.”

In July, Simon shared that he hoped to get back on the road—he hadn’t toured since 2018—but wasn’t sure how that would happen with his hearing loss.

Simon began by discussing how working on new music had been a “lifesaver” in trying times, “I have three songs in motion. One of them is finished. It feels like a half-step beyond what Seven Psalms is, evolving into something else.

“And that’s literally a lifesaver because I haven’t figured out how to perform with the hearing loss. I’ve tried to rehearse with the guys in my touring band to see if I could manage it. I can’t so far. This is at least an outlet for thinking musically.”

Now, at last week’s premiere of his new documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon, the singer shared a hopeful new update: he can hear his voice in his left ear again.

In an interview with People, Simon said that his hearing has improved to “enough of a degree that I’m comfortably singing and playing guitar and playing a few other instruments.”

He added, “I can hear my voice the way I want it in the context of the music. If there’s a drum or an electric guitar, it’s too loud, and I can’t hear my voice. But when I first lost the hearing, I couldn’t get, it threw me off. Everything was coming from this side.”

At the time of writing, there’s no release date for In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon hitting Australian streaming services. In the US, part one of the documentary premiered on MGM+ yesterday, with part two arriving on 24 March.

Seven Psalms is Simon’s first new album in seven years.