Rush Limbaugh

guido

guido

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I was reading up on the Pig Man yesterday, and I found out that he received a cochlear implant a couple of years ago to compensate for his unilateral hearing loss. Does anyone know anything about this? I just found it interesting. Has he ever publicly spoke about it?

This still doesn't explain the "big, fat idiot" part.
 
guido said:
I was reading up on the Pig Man yesterday, and I found out that he received a cochlear implant a couple of years ago to compensate for his unilateral hearing loss. Does anyone know anything about this? I just found it interesting. Has he ever publicly spoke about it?

This still doesn't explain the "big, fat idiot" part.
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I have heard something about this, yes, but I don't know if he actually has spoken directly about it. But, you are correct. He is late deafened (I thought his deafness was bi-lateral), and he received a cochlear implant. This is conjecture on my part, but he has admitted to being a drug addict. It's my belief (and keep in mind, this is mere opinion), that his drug use caused his deafness. It's well known that some medications can damage hearing, and if he was taking high doses of certain medications, it doesn't take a wizard to figure out, that his drug use could have caused his hearing loss.

Just an opinion. If anyone can come up with corroboration for this, or another reason for his deafness, I'd love to see. I'm also interested!

Thanks! :thumb:

Edit: I went googling and came up with something. This article doesn't say why he went deaf, but it does confirm that he's profoundly deaf in both ears.

http://www.drf.org/further_reading/news/limbaugh.htm
 
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I had known about his CIs for a while...no mystery there...

Er...actually, they are not sure why he went deaf like he did. It was very quick...say a month and it was gone. Obviously given he does talk radio, he needed to do something and CIs were it.
 
He was on hydrocodone (vicodin) and oxycodone (oxycontin), I believe. I'm pretty sure neither of those is ototoxic, so his hearing loss was most likely due to something else.
 
sr171soars said:
I had known about his CIs for a while...no mystery there...

Er...actually, they are not sure why he went deaf like he did. It was very quick...say a month and it was gone. Obviously given he does talk radio, he needed to do something and CIs were it.
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yes, his hearing loss is bilateral. (if it was uni-lateral he wouldn't need a CI) and yes, although he and the media called it "a very rare and out-of-the-blue genetic disease", now that his drug abouse has been made public it's a much more likely cause

Hydrocodone in combination with acetaminophen (e.g Vicodin) has also been associated with hearing loss (Friedman, House et al. 2000; Oh, Ishiyama et al. 2000). Complete deafness, treated with a cochlear implant, can occur in persons addicted to these medications. This clinical picture is sometimes misdiagnosed as autoimmune inner ear disehttp://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bilat/ototoxins.htmlase.
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I listen to talk radio in my car because It's one of the few things on the radio I can still enjoy with the little bit of hearing I have left. about a year ago, by a strike of luck (I don't usually listen to rush) I heard him mention his CI, all he said was something like ".. and if I turn my implant off I can't hear a thing"
 
farmerjoe said:
yes, his hearing loss is bilateral. (if it was uni-lateral he wouldn't need a CI) and yes, although he and the media called it "a very rare and out-of-the-blue genetic disease", now that his drug abouse has been made public it's a much more likely cause



I listen to talk radio in my car because It's one of the few things on the radio I can still enjoy with the little bit of hearing I have left. about a year ago, by a strike of luck (I don't usually listen to rush) I heard him mention his CI, all he said was something like ".. and if I turn my implant off I can't hear a thing"
Click to expand...

Oh, ok. Thanks for correcting me. I thought it was unilateral.
 
ismi said:
He was on hydrocodone (vicodin) and oxycodone (oxycontin), I believe. I'm pretty sure neither of those is ototoxic, so his hearing loss was most likely due to something else.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I was on hydrocodone for about 8 mos starting last Oct due to severe infections.I came off all the meds in April.

Anyway, I was in a lot of pain. I took the med as prescribed, never exceeding recommended dosing. I never had a problem with my hearing (I'm hearing) while taking it. I also stopped taking the med as soon as I didn't need it anymore. I didn't have a problem stopping the med. I just stopped taking it.

So, I don't know what caused his deafness. It's also a safe bet that he doesn't either. There are some things you just can't explain.

:dunno:

Thank you for mentioning what drugs he was taking.
 
Normally I don't listen to Rush on the radio but today I happened to be in my car at the time he was on, and his station was the only one coming in.

Rush mentioned that the only music he enjoys listening to now is music that he used to enjoy before he became deaf. The reason is that even with his CI, he can't really hear the music the way it's supposed to sound. He says it sounds like just one note, and screechy, like someone scraping their fingernails on a chalk board. The reason he prefers familiar songs is because his brain remembers those songs and can "fill in" the melodies. But he actually doesn't "hear" them; he just "remembers" them.
 
If I remember correctly, Rush was implanted with an Advanced Bionics CI -- the CII.

I listen to Rush occasionally and haven't heard him talk about his CI since he first came on the air following his CI activation. On that day, he talked about the CI by explaining what was involved with the surgery, how it works and that he's completely deaf without it. You might be able to find a transcript of the show by visiting his website.

Hear Again

Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with 3G
Implanted: 12/22/04 Activated: 1/18/05

Right ear - Nucleus Freedom
Implanted: 2/1/06 Activated: 3/1/06
 
yeah he had CII implant (Clarion CII by AB) since he said that then that means he need to upgrade the software to HiRes on his PSP (body worn processor) or get new Auria BTE with HiRes and then he should be hearing music clearly then. That way he won't need to rely on his memories to fill in eh. :D

OR maybe he's waiting for the Harmony w/ Fidelity 120 to come out then he upgrade to that. (Early 2007)
 
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