The star tenor on perils for the sense of hearing and the necessity of silent periods.

Since recently, you have been an ambassador for Hear the World, a global initiative by hearing system manufacturer Phonak. What is this initiative about?
We were made aware of a problem that gets worse every day: people losing their sense of hearing. Currently, as many as 500 million people are hearing impaired or deaf.
In our noise-polluted world, we are exposed to a number of sounds. The world gets a little bit louder ever day. Especially young people are affected, when they spend too much time at discos or with an iPod in their ears. I recommend they have their hearing tested every year to find out how much of their hearing capacity they may have lost already.
It can be up to ten percent within a single year!

However, avoiding noise altogether is hardly possible, and for many people, visits to the disco are a part of their routine.
That’s for sure. And once the ears are damaged for good, they can always get a hearing aid. But being an ambassador for the initiative, I would certainly like to give people a wake-up call before it is too late. I just do not want for 700 million people to have a damaged sense of hearing. This is the figure statistics present for the near future.

Do you suffer from hearing problems yourself?
No. But sometimes – after practicing for five or six hours with the orchestra – my ears need to get some rest. It is very important to give them some silent periods.

How do you react to background music?
I kindly ask for the music to be turned off immediately. When I am sitting at a restaurant,
I do not wish to be bothered with any music. Oftentimes, people do not even want to hear the music they are exposed to, they simply do not say anything.

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