'If I couldn’t hear my grandkids talking, I’d be broken-hearted': Tommy Swarbrigg on hearing loss journey

Together with his brother Jimmy, Tommy Swarbrigg represented Ireland twice in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s. Tommy — a music promoter for stars like Nathan Carter and Smokie — tells Helen O’Callaghan about how his years in music had an unfortunate physical legacy in the form of hearing loss — and about the joy of finding a way to restore this

Tommy Swarbrigg: 'Maybe 14 years ago, I noticed my hearing deteriorating badly, my left ear worse than my right. I was in quite a lot of pain.'

All through my musical days, when I was a full-time musician, I had fantastic hearing. I took it for granted.

The trouble was that I spent most of my time in the studio, finishing off, mixing recordings, for hours. Sometimes 16 hours in a row if I was mixing three or four songs on an album — too much, but I didn’t realise.

When I was in The Drifters and we’d be playing at the summer festivals, it’d be 13 nights in a row, maybe one night off. We all did that in the band, summer was when you made the big money. On stage, two to three hours, and in those days, all the electronics were behind you — four Marshall stacks, 6ft to 7ft tall, huge speakers. Nowadays, the electronics are either above or in front of you — it makes a huge difference to your ears.

As the actual amplifiers got bigger, we were getting more and more sound all the time. It wasn’t uncomfortable on our ears because we were used to it… and so we didn’t realise.

Maybe 14 years ago, I noticed my hearing deteriorating badly, my left ear worse than my right. I was in quite a lot of pain. The impact: it was everything… straining to hear what people were hearing, asking ‘what’s that?’. Not so much with family — you’re relaxed with them, you don’t mind asking them to repeat a few lines you missed.

Tommy Swarbrigg: 'I went to an audiologist and he said I had quite dramatic hearing loss. He told me I had only 30% of my hearing left. It was a huge shock.'

But with strangers, or in business conversations, you’d be very much aware of it. In a crowded place, a lot of voices around, you couldn’t pick out separately who the heck was talking.

In social situations, having a drink in a pub, the noise coming at you would just overwhelm you — everything coming belting at you. Hard to distinguish one voice from another with the clatter of noise, that was the worst.

I went to an audiologist and he said I had quite dramatic hearing loss. He told me I had only 30% of my hearing left. It was a huge shock — frightening to think if I did go deaf after spending a lifetime in the music industry, an awesome shock. All I had to lose was another 10 or 15% and Bang! It was gone!

What I’d miss most… my little grandchildren, if I couldn’t hear them talking… my little one, only 21 months old, and my six-year-old grandson. They’re always chatting to me — they come in to us regularly. We go to the piano and we play together. The 21-month-old loves to bang on it with her two hands and it’s so funny. I get a great kick out of it. If I couldn’t hear them talking, I’d be absolutely broken-hearted.

Tommy Swarbrigg: 'Even in the time since I got my first hearing aid, the improvement is mind-boggling. I’m 30 years of age again!'

So with the audiologist, the aim was to protect the hearing I had left. I started wearing hearing protectors when I was in a studio or when I was touring. And they were limiting because I wasn’t really getting the buzz from the sound. But I was determined to protect what I had left.

And it was a huge relief when the audiologist told me he could help me. The first hearing aid I got from him, it was like the world opened up again. Such a boost to my hearing, I couldn’t believe it.

Even in the time since I got my first hearing aid, the improvement is mind-boggling. I’m 30 years of age again! I’m talking to you, and the phone is two feet away, and I’m not straining in the slightest to hear what you’re saying!

I’m heading for my 81st year next month. I wouldn’t go to one of the big shows in the theatre in Dublin now because I’d have to wear the ear protectors and it’s not the same as hearing the full sound. But that doesn’t bother me.

Tommy Swarbrigg: 'I am so careful of what I have left, and so grateful to the hearing aids. I’m so glad I can still hear.'

My ears are very dear to me. I don’t regret it, the loud music, what it did to my ears. First of all, I didn’t realise the damage I was doing. It’s a very common topic of conversation among the musicians of that time. They were doing the same as me — going into the studio 13 hours in a row, without a break, without giving our ears a rest.

I was possibly one of the first to be really badly affected. Now there are others. I meet them and they say ‘ah look, I’m the same, I’m going to such-and-such in Fitzgibbon  Square to be fitted with hearing aids’.

I am so careful of what I have left, and so grateful to the hearing aids. I’m so glad I can still hear.

When I go back into the house after talking to you, my son and daughter, my wife, are in there, and we’ll have a chat and I’ll be sitting there as animated in the conversation as they are, and that is an amazing thing.

• Tommy Swarbrigg recently received the Gift of Hearing from Hidden Hearing. The annual initiative donates free, advanced hearing aids and personalised hearing care to deserving individuals across Ireland. 
• Since launching the campaign in 2018, Hidden Hearing has donated more than €320,000 worth of hearing aids across Ireland, translating to 56 recipients in 20 counties so far, from just 10 years old to 102 years old.
• Nominate someone for Gift of Hearing by clicking here.