Paul Simon has been dealing with steadily declining hearing in his left year since 2023 while working on the album Seven Psalms. Simon, who only has about 6% hearing left, discussed his treatment options in an interview with CBS Mornings.
The singer has been working with the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss, with their facilities based in Palo Alto, California. He revealed that zebrafish, mice, and other such beings are the focal point of the research, given that the former managed to regain hearing after an FDA-approved drug was administered to it, while the latter has been used to learn more about regenerative gene therapy.
Per a paper from the Hearing Health Foundation, non-mammalian vertebrates such as zebrafish possess the ability to regenerate lost hair cells throughout their life span. These permanently lost mechanosensory hair cells are the reason behind most hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction cases in humans. Per the paper,
"While a comparative approach has the potential to reveal the basis of such differential regenerative ability, the degree to which the inner ears of fish and mammals share common hair cells and supporting cell types remains unresolved."
Paul Simon says he won't let his disability hold him back
Paul Simon revealed that when performing these days, he simply cannot without his special speaker setup. He said:
"I’m going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices that I make to acoustic versions. It’s all much quieter. It’s not ‘You Can Call Me Al.’ That’s gone. I can’t do that one.”
In the interview with CBS Mornings, Simon and the reporter, Anthony Mason, took an on-site visit to the facility at Paolo Alto. There, they were given a crash course on the research being conducted and some of its recent discoveries.
Led by Dr. Konstantina Stankovic revealed that hearing is the most difficult part to tackle because hearing bones “are the smallest bones in the body.” These bones are linked to the cochlea, which is just as small and fragile. Hence, doctors have yet to find a way to biopsy it without it culminating in deafness.
As for Paul Simon, he divulged that his hearing loss won't hold him back from doing what he loves:
"You know Matisse, when he was suffering at the end of his life, when he was in bed, he envisioned all these cut-outs and had a great creative period. So I don’t think creativity stops with disability. So far, I haven’t experienced that. And I hope not to.”
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Towards the end of the interview, Paul Simon divulged that their little trip to the SICHL gave him “hope that there is some significant improvement on the horizon.”
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