Rush Limbaugh, right wing pundit and extravagant radio personality told listeners Monday he is “for all practical purposes, deaf.” The news comes as a shock to all who know Limbaugh as the jovial, if often politically incorrect, snubber of liberals.
Although he does most of the talking on his radio program, his hearing loss may be a stumbling block to inviting listeners to call in and comment on the issues he raises. Limbaugh is currently exploring other ways to “hear” those callers, Reuters reports, citing program director Phil Boyce of WABC-AM New York, who thinks Limbaugh may be using a teleprompter to read what callers are saying.
Limbaugh remains optimistic, though. Even if call-ins have to be eliminated from the show, he plans to proceed as usual. “I have lost my ability to hear. I have not yet lost my ability to communicate,” he said. After all, he just signed a nine-year contract for over $280 million, the Reuters report said.
Doctors have their theories about why Limbaugh‘s hearing has declined so suddenly, but he prefers not to make it public, according to the Associated Press. Despite Limbaugh‘s current prescriptions of various medications together with the strongest hearing aids, his hearing loss is most likely irreversible, though a permanent cochlear implant may be a final option..
Limbaugh‘s hearing loss has altered his speech slightly, too, and listeners have written in to tell him so.
Yet Limbaugh‘s wits are still in the right place: “It could well be that my voice is changing,” he said, according to AP. “I don’t know. I cannot hear myself well enough to know.”
