AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson struggled with significant hearing loss in 2016. Johnson has since overcome the hearing loss, rejoined AC/DC, and sang on the upcoming new record PWR/UP. Johnson recently sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss the initial phases of hearing loss and what it was like.
"It was pretty serious," he said. "I couldn't hear the tone of the guitars at all. It was a horrible kind of deafness. I was literally getting by on muscle memory and mouth shapes. I was starting to really feel bad about the performances in front of the boys, in front of the audience. It was crippling. There's nothing worse than standing there and not being sure… The docs said, 'Deaf is deaf, son.' Cliff and Angus didn't want to be responsible for me damaging my ears any further. … Shit happens. At least it wasn't terminal."
Johnson also discussed finding a specialist to help with the hearing loss, and getting on the road to hearing again.
"The first time he came down he brought this thing that looked like a car battery," he said. "I went, 'What in the hell is that?' He said, 'We're going to miniaturize it.' It took two and a half years. He came down once a month. We'd sit there and it was boring as shit with all these wires and computer screens and noises. But it was well worth it. The only thing I can tell you is that it uses the bone structure in the skull as a receiver. That's as much as I can tell you."
You can hear Johnson on the brand new AC/DC single "Shot In The Dark" below. AC/DC will release their new album Power Up on November 13. Pre-orders are available here.
