Tinnitus, Hearing Loss, Musicians, and Hope: A Case Study (New Podcast interview)

(Click play above to listen to the podcast – or click here to listen in Apple podcasts.)

I recently had the opportunity to talk about tinnitus on a podcast called Blurred Laws and Life, hosted by Richard Busch, who is a prominent and influential lawyer in the music industry.

What made this interview truly special is that Scott Schreer, an incredibly talented and successful musician, who is currently one of my tinnitus coaching clients, came on the podcast with me to share his story.

Scott has had an incredible decades-long career in the music industry as a musician, composer, producer, and entrepreneur.

You’ve all heard his music before: Scott composed the music for the NFL, MLB, Nascar, UFC, just to name a few, as well as many other TV networks, movies and shows. His music has been featured on some of the most iconic advertisements of the last four decades. Scott is also founder and CEO of two successful technology companies: Tunesat and FreePlay Music.

Scott’s story is a powerful one. He suffers from a severe case of tinnitus and kept it secret for most of his professional career. Scott has been working with me one-on-one for the last month or so, and has been making great progress with habituation. I couldn’t be more proud of him for deciding to finally share his story.

Scott’s case is an incredible (and ongoing) success story, and one that I think you are all going to find truly inspirational.

Topics discussed in the podcast:

Tinnitus affects roughly 10% of the general population, but in the music industry that number is closer to 40-50%. And yet very few well known musicians actually talk about their tinnitus because they believe that doing so puts their reputation at risk.

They end up suffering in isolation, facing far more difficulty than the average tinnitus sufferer whose livelihood doesn’t rely on being able to hear music clearly.

In the podcast, Richard, Scott, and I cover a wide ranging variety of topics including:

• Scott’s decades long journey with tinnitus which started in a recording studio session when he was 24 years old.
• Scott’s early successes with Tinnitus Retraining Therapy following a recommendation by actor and American Tinnitus Association spokesperson William Shatner.
• The various points over Scott’s career when his tinnitus re-intensified, the worst of which happened only recently
• How much Scott’s tinnitus has improved since he started working to habituate
• The many difficult challenges faced by tinnitus sufferers
• The lack of awareness about tinnitus in the general public
• Why so many doctors mistakenly say there is nothing you can do about tinnitus, that you just have to live with it
• Severe tinnitus and the prevalence of suicidal thoughts
• The additional challenges faced by professionals in the music industry suffering from tinnitus
• The importance of hearing protection to prevent tinnitus
• Why there is real hope for relief if you are suffering from tinnitus
• The strategies and tools that I teach to help tinnitus sufferers find relief
• Meditation and tinnitus
• How I developed the habituation strategy that I teach
• So much more!

Want to work with me one-on-one? Click here to learn more.