Rush Limbaugh tries to keep his radio show going despite onset of deafness

AP ^ | 10-25-01 | DAVID BAUDER

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The onset of deafness would paralyze most radio personalities. Rush Limbaugh likens it to a midlife crisis.

"I turned 50 in January," the talk show host said in an interview. "A guy who turns 50 goes out and buys a red Corvette and hunts chicks to prove he's still youthful. Mine is to still do this, basically deaf, and do it better than anybody else."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Prayers for Rush.

[SolitaryMan]

Prayers for Rush.

Ditto...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"I do not intend to become a symbol," he said. "I will not be doing public service announcements for the deaf or disabled. I'm just going to continue to lead my life the best I can and let that be the example."

Nobody can say that Rush does not practice what he preaches.

[caisson71]

Trouble ahead for Rush? Sure, he's having more trouble than he would like to have. He still makes more sense than most people with perfect eyesight and hearing. He will do whatever it takes to maintain his high program standards. I would be surprised to see his hearing loss stop him. I do pray for him too.

[ctdonath2]

IIRC, Rush got signed a 5-10 contract for $250M - for that kind of money, auditory-problem solutions WILL be found, and fast.

[Martin Tell]

I listened for a short time today while returning from lunch. Rush did not sound good. I heard the higher pitch I had read about (sounded like more than technical problems to me), and more disturbing an occassional slurring of the words. Very sad as I know he takes such pride in his delivery. Still, what he said was on target (maybe his future is more in writing than radio). Yes, pray. May God strengthen the minds and hands of his doctors and lead to healing.

[onyx]

I have complete faith (and I think Rush does too) that his hearing will be restored, either by medicine or the implant.

I even giggled a little during his show today, when unbeknownst to Rush because of his deafness, he kept talking while the dial tone of a caller disconected was 'binging' in the background. (I think it's likely that Rush laughed too once he was informed about it.)

[what's up]

Praying for those steroids to work...

[ken5050]

I think he should just stop taking phone calls....that's the only time when the show breaks down a little..

[jb54tx]

I'm prayin for a miracle for ya Rush... been listening to ya since 92 & it didn't take me 6 weeks to learn to like hearing you... actually only about 6 minutes!

[Common Tator]

Deafness makes it very difficult to judge your own voice. People who can not hear themselves tend to over do it.

If I were in Rush's shoes, I would build a device that let me sort of hear by feeling vibrations.

Sound is just vibrating air. A radio takes the electronic image of the vibrating air picked up by a mike and using a motor like device attached to a stiff paper cone turns it into vibrating air again. It is called a speaker.

The speaker uses electrical current to create mechanical vibration to move air. It seems to me that humans without any hearing could use their fingers on a speaker like device to feel vibrations. If one has a memory of sound, as Rush does, I believe he could be taught to relate these vibrations to sound quality.

I would attach Rush's microphone output to an audio amplifier. The amp output is sent to a speaker like mechanism designed to vibrate rush's fingers. It would be designed to vibrate but not make noise. He would feel sound not hear it. From this device he could feel the mechanical vibrations and relate them to the sound he is making.

For practice have him try to emulate parts of remembered speach. He could practice with a listener who tells him how close he is to his original dilivery. Have him practice "Talent on Loan from God" until he his fingers can feel he is doing his normal delivery. Each time he duplicates the performance of remembered line he will know it in the future by the vibrations his fingers feel.

Over time he would be able to relate vibrations felt to both volume and pitch. It would be sort of like hearing. He would just be using his sense of touch to hear.

He would not be able to "feel" the meanings of sounds. That is he could not understand words. But he could accurately judge attack, release, volume,sustain and pitch. It would give him a substitute tool to do what a profesional air voice does with his ears.

Many of you remember seeing old time professional radio announcers do the bent over ear bit. They bent their ear over to reduce the sound of their voice and increase their ability to judge the vocal cords vibrations. That is they bent the ear to cut off sound so they could concentrate on feeling the vibrations of their vocal cords. It is a better way for hearing people to judge voice quality of their own vove. The old time announcers used vibrations not sound to give them more control of their voice.

If Rush did this in not too long a time, I think he could sound totally normal.

[Micah]

Philippians1:6 For I am confident of this very thing,that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.Rush and your family are in my prayers that you will grow in grace and be encouraged by Christ who although HE existed in the form of God,did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied Himself,taking the form of a bond-servant,and being made in the likeness of men.He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.For this reason also,God highly exalted Him,and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,of those who are in heaven and on earthand under the earth,and that every tonge will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.

[VeritatisSplendor]

He's often promised to keep talking until everyone in America agrees with him, figuring it will take until he's 66 or 67.

LOL!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Rush Limbaugh keeps his radio show going despite onset of deafness

AND DOING A DARN FINE JOB

If you didnt know he could hear before... you would never know he couldnt hear now!!!!

[Conservative independent]

I was thinking the same thing as soon as I read the title. He is keeping his show going......

[Terriergal]

With the help of a slight tape delay, a caller's words are transcribed onto Limbaugh's computer screen. In a separate message box, his producers indicate whether a caller is amiable or angry. Limbaugh watches a dial that records sound waves to see if the caller is talking or has stopped.

You know, i figured (without hearing about it) that he must be doing all three of these things to be able to handle everything as smoothly as he does. It is amazing.

[Slyfox]

I think Rush sounds great. Whatever equipment he is using to help him is working out well. I wonder how long it will take before the Rushbashers veer into this thread? The thing the anti-Rush crowd has been fond of saying for years is, "He just like to hear himself talk." Well, he can't hear himself talk now.

He is still able to do the job with half his brain AND both his ears tied behind his back.

[Rudder]

For those who agree with him, he's a god.

I agree with 90% of what Rush says. But he is not a god figure...he's too self-agrandizing for that.

[Slyfox]

I spoke too soon.

[Musket]

Those are some interesting ideas. Personallly, I think he sounds just fine. But another thing he could do for practice or during the show is to use an oscilliscope or view realtime waveforms on a computer screen. Maybe view the waveforms from old tapes and try to match them. I think Kurzweil has some experience in this stuff.