Queen drummer Roger Taylor has revealed years of playing loud music has left him partially deaf and reliant on hearing aids.
The 61-year-old musician has spoken about his dramatic hearing loss for the first time, confirming he has been diagnosed with a serious ear condition after nearly 40 years behind the drums.
He tells Britain's Sunday Express, "I guess it was inevitable and hardly surprising given what I've been doing for the past 40 years... The sound levels on stage were so loud with all that constant banging and smash, smash, smash; it did untold damage to the fine nerve endings in the inner ear, though it is worse in the left, which is the side of my snare drum and the monitor."
Taylor, who now has to wear a hearing aid in both ears, admits he only sought medical help when his wife Sarina realised there was something wrong.
He adds, "She was the one who kept pointing out that the TV volume was up too loud, though I could only just hear it. Then I kept missing out on dialogue in films and at dinner parties and social gatherings I couldn't understand what people were saying. It felt strange and frustrating to a point where I was starting to lip-read. I realised my hearing wasn't what it should be."
Taylor is not the only veteran rocker struggling with serious hearing loss - The Who's Pete Townshend is also battling partial deafness, so the Queen star feels he is in "good company".