Dave Grohl Admits He Is Deaf & Has Been Reading Lips For 20 Years

Foo Fighters are one of the most popular post grunge rock bands in modern history. Whether you like them or not, its quite phenomenal how Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl assembled such an influential band after Kurt Cobain’s death. The band is now all set to dip their toes into the movie business.

Foo Fighters have produced and starred in some of the most memorable music videos in modern rock history. It feels like a natural progression for the Foo Fighters to headline their own movie. During the press run for the horror-music film Studio 666, Dave Grohl stopped by Howard Stern Show and opened up about his own battles.

Like many drummers, Dave Grohl had to deal with hearing loss as a consequence of four decades of rocking. The Everlong star confessed he was deaf and that he’s been relying on reading lips for the past 20 years. He went on to add that his ‘left ear is kind of worse than my right’ from all the years playing drums and having his snare drum and audio monitor just to his left.

The two-time Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee believes he has tinnitus, more so in his left ear than his right. As a result of all his years playing drums and having his snare drum and audio monitor just to his left without ear plugs. This is nothing new, because it dates back to his time with Nirvana in the early 1990s.

I wanna hear the audience like, in front of me and I want to turn around be able to hear [drummer] Taylor [Hawkins] right there and go over here and hear [guitarist] Pat [Smear], and go over here and hear [guitarist] Chris [Shiflett] and stuff like that…. It just messes with your spatial understanding of where you are on stage.

Like dealing with hearing loss isn’t hard by itself, Dave said it has proven to become more difficult during Covid. This is due to do the inability to read lips since mask-wearing became a norm in the wake of the pandemic. Dave mentioned he’s still able to hear ‘the slightest little things’ while recording music in the studio and mixing albums. 

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