Brian's deaf ear

[sherryluvsbrian]

I'm confussed about why brian is deaf in one ear. I watched a video on youtube
awhile back, I can't remember which one, dutch tv or something brian said his father murry hit him with a 2 by 4, then i watched larry king live made in 2004 and brian said he was born that way. I know brian has told different stories about his life before, maybe he gets confussed, i would sure like to know which story is real. It seems hard to belive he would blame murry if it's not true. what are your thoughts.

[Fun Is In]

In the absence of hearing tests (even rudimentary tests) or other documentation from various times in his life, the truth will remain slippery and people will believe what they want to believe....or believe the story that gets repeated most often.

Injury by the household tyrant fits with what many think of as the truth of the Wilson family.

[Andrew G. Doe]

According to Audree in a 1971 interview, he was born that way. She said it was a damaged 9th nerve.

[Fun Is In]

IX injury would not explain deafness nor his facial droop.

IX is glossopharyngial (serving taste on part of tongue plus other oral functions)
 
Cranial nerve VIII is vesitublocochlear, serving the inner ear. Hard to damage that one at birth.

The facial nerve (VII) is the one most susceptible to birth trauma, which would explain the lopsided smile, etc of unilateral facial droop. VII injury would NOT effect hearing.

So I'm not buying Audrey's explanation.

[Andrew G. Doe]

AudreE may be wrong about the specifics, but she was there when Brian was young, and noticed his hearing problem very early on.

[Fun Is In]

The family myth may well be that the facial nerve paralysis and deafness came together, but it's unlikely. (Though some myths really are true.) Even if the hearing was impaired from birth, the cranial nerve explanation probably doesn't stand up as it would require trauma not just to the superficial and exposed facial nerve (not rare) but also to the deep and not exposed vestibulocochlear nerve (very rare).

Most unilateral hearing loss goes undetected until toddlerhood or later (yes, that would be a very early age).  He may well have had it from an early age, but more than a few family myths are constructed to hide child abuse. Conversely, the blow to the head as the cause could be the family myth as a form of retribution.  Absent medical records, it's still speculative.

Now to go dig up "Summer In Paradise" and listen to it 5 times in a row to atone for my "E"gregious typo.  ( I recommend "GIOMH" as atonement for incorrect anatomical references.)

[endofposts]

The family myth may well be that the facial nerve paralysis and deafness came together, but it's unlikely. (Though some myths really are true.) Even if the hearing was impaired from birth, the cranial nerve explanation probably doesn't stand up as it would require trauma not just to the superficial and exposed facial nerve (not rare) but also to the deep and not exposed vestibulocochlear nerve (very rare).

Most unilateral hearing loss goes undetected until toddlerhood or later (yes, that would be a very early age).  He may well have had it from an early age, but more than a few family myths are constructed to hide child abuse. Conversely, the blow to the head as the cause could be the family myth as a form of retribution.  Absent medical records, it's still speculative.

Now to go dig up "Summer In Paradise" and listen to it 5 times in a row to atone for my "E"gregious typo.  ( I recommend "GIOMH" as atonement for incorrect anatomical references.)

So, can deafness be caused by a blow to the head?  I'm not clear on that from your detailed explanation.  Carl Wilson also claimed that Brian had an unsuccessful operation to restore the hearing in his right ear.

[sherryluvsbrian]

I guess we will never know the truth, but i'm guessing he was born that way.

[Fun Is In]

FWIW, in Timothy White's "the nearest faraway place" (sic) on page 79 says the deafness was first noted at the time of a Christmas Choir program and then diagnosed by a family doctor as a nerve impingement that would be relieved by a tonsillectomy......but the doctor was wrong, it says.

He goes on to say that additional theories, held in the main by AudreE, included congenital nerve deafness or the result of a scuffle Brian had with another child.

Then he writes about Brian's beliefs that it was a whack to the ear by Murray when Brian was almost 3 years old.

FWIW

I doubt that we'll ever know for sure, even if all the story above is horse hockey.

[Surfer Joe]

I doubt that we'll ever know for sure, even if all the story above is horse hockey.

I have to agree.  I'm not sure why a statement from Audree, with great respect to her and everyone else in the family, would be definitive and final in the face of so many conflicting statements. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

Brian used the deaf ear/hearing problem as one of the reasons (among others) for his leaving the road in 1964/65. This reason also cropped up again during the Whiskey A Go-Go appearances in 1970.

I was/am surprised we rarely heard anything about it during his touring years in the 2000's. The sound is a lot louder and he's positioned in front of the stage.

[the captain]

But live sound is also managed in an entirely different way. Major musicians such as Brian's band are exposed to a lot less of the volume, having well-mixed, well-placed monitor speakers giving them just what they want/need to hear, with the main venue speakers mostly in front of, to the sides or, above and aiming away from the band. In the 60s, you often say the main speakers behind the group aiming at the audience--right through the musicians. I'd bet the stages themselves are quieter now than then.

[Amy B.]

I wish we in the audience would get a more muted sound. I know I sound like a fuddy-duddy, but a lot of the concerts I've seen (not just Brian) are way too loud. The sound gets distorted. I've walked out of some (not Brian's) with my ears ringing, thinking, "Why did I subject myself to that?"

Anyway, back to the topic...

[Fun Is In]

IMHO, ear plugs are needed for most concerts.

You can still feel the bomp in your chest but not lose your hearing.
For me, I hear MORE detail that way, not less.

[matt-zeus]

One of my friends is deaf in one ear and he talks with his mouth to one side (presumably so his ear can hear him?!), it's also fun to insult him in his deaf ear (in a good natured way of course!)

[sherryluvsbrian]

One of my friends is deaf in one ear and he talks with his mouth to one side (presumably so his ear can hear him?!), it's also fun to insult him in his deaf ear (in a good natured way of course!)

If your deaf in the right ear your mouth will turn to the left side or your deaf in the left ear your month turns to the right side?

[Chris Brown]

One of my friends is deaf in one ear and he talks with his mouth to one side (presumably so his ear can hear him?!), it's also fun to insult him in his deaf ear (in a good natured way of course!)

If your deaf in the right ear your mouth will turn to the left side or your deaf in the left ear your month turns to the right side?

Brian has always done this, even when he was young.  It's more noticeable now that he's older, but he has said that he always spoke (and sang) out of the left side of his mouth so he could hear himself better.  I wish I could find it easily but there is a studio picture from I believe the Wally Heider sessions where Brian is in the middle of speaking and you can see his mouth is turned to the left.

[sherryluvsbrian]

 I noticed the way he talks is alittle slured even now. it's the hearing or drug abuse, maybe both.

[Chris Brown]

I noticed the way he talks is alittle slured even now. it's the hearing or drug abuse, maybe both.

Yea I think the slurring is a combination of the drugs and aging.  Some have also theorized that the slurring is a result of Landy's "over-medication" of Brian in the late 80's-early 90's.

[MBE]

He didn't slur until 1983 or so.

[MrRobinsonsFather]

I just listened to Brian's howard stern interview and he says it was when he was 16 years old when Murray used the 2 by 4,
At 16 years of age wouldn't Brian remember whether his ear was totally shot or not before of after that incident?
My theory for what its worth is Brian's deafness was there from birth but Murray made it even worse.

Another question I have is couldn't Brian get some sort of hearing aid or is he 100% deaf in his ear now.

[Andrew G. Doe]

According to what you believe, and when, Brian's deafness is due to...

congenital defect (Audree stated it's a damaged 9th nerve)...

kid down the road hit him in the ear with a baseball bat...

Murry hit him with a 2x4...

alternatively, Murry hit him with a baseball bat at Little League.

The age 16 thing is bull, as Brian's deafness was noted by the family much earlier than that. He had an operation in the late 60s/early 70s, evidently with no effect.

[rn57]

It's that way because Murry sh*t in it. Brian said so himself somewhere in David Leaf's book.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Response to the 1971 Rolling Stone articles - allegedly, when Murry phoned Brian to complain about what had been said, Brian told him "why don't we say you hit me in the head with a plate and I sh*t in your ear ?" 

[37!ws]

Wow...this thread is like, oldsies!

This is just one of many Beach Boys tidbits we'll never know the truth about.

When Brian was on 20/20 Downtown in 2000 (I think, might have been 2002), he was asked if a beating from his father caused his hearing loss. Brian said, "No, I was born that way."

A few years later when he was on Larry King Live, Brian said the hearing loss was caused by Murry hitting him with a 2 x 4.