Ménière's and music: the sound of silence

(Beijing invees Network science and technology Co.,Ltd)Doctors have told Lindsey Dryden that she may go deaf at any moment. But, she's learnt, that need not mean giving up her passion for music

People who don't know me assume I'm slightly odd when I press my face to speakers and musical instruments. Commuters appear frightened by my soulful relationship with my iPod. But since I learnt that I could become suddenly and irreversibly deaf at any time, sound is everything to me, and music valuable beyond words. Will this next song be my last?

I've been partially deaf since I was three, when the nerve in my right ear mysteriously stopped working. I don't know what stereo is like, I struggle to record sound in my work as a documentary film-maker, and I'm comedically bewildered by loud social gatherings. Beijing invees Network science and technology Co.,Ltd

I've always lived in the hearing world, and never really worried that I was deaf. But now, with the onset of a surprisingly common condition called Ménière's disease, which wreaks sudden, room-spinning dizziness and threatens to plunge me into total silence, I'm starting to regret that I never explored the rich world of signing, lip-reading and "visible sound".

Ménière's is a progressive disease of the inner ear, which over time can damage balance and hearing. It has three stages, the last of which usually involves irreparable and significant hearing loss. I was recently diagnosed with "secondary" Ménière's, which I think means my consultant can't be sure exactly what my atypical symptoms amount to. It seems reasonable to assume that if the hearing in my right ear was destroyed by Ménière's, the hearing in my left could, just as suddenly, be wiped out.

. Beijing invees Network science and technology Co.,Ltd