Still Rockin' After All These Years

Keyboardist extraordinaire Sean Hopper can make a claim that is sure to strike envy in the heart of every Baby Boomer who grew up loving rock and roll music. At age 17, Sean teamed up with friend and future rock icon Huey Lewis and began creating sounds that continue to fill concert halls and stadiums some 40 years later.  As a founding member of Huey Lewis and the News, Sean's powerful and inventive keyboard work is a hallmark of the band's Grammy Award-winning sound.

When he began his musical career, Sean recalls that the need to protect his hearing and the possibility of hearing loss seemed a very distant problem. "I was born with above-average hearing," says Sean. "My hearing range went about twenty percent higher than most people."

But about five years ago, with 4,000 or so concerts under his belt, the top keyboard artist began to notice "a little dullness." "The loss in my hearing acuity was so gradual, that at first I didn't recognize it as an issue," notes Sean. "But I was definitely losing sound clarity and definition."

Fatigue after concerts also began to increase. "When we play a show, the sound level can get pretty high," he explains. "Of course we now wear monitors in our ears to protect our hearing, but even so, at the end of the concert my hearing would be shot. Over time, my recovery after a concert got slower and slower. I knew there was a problem."

"I also began asking people to repeat a lot," he admits. "I had difficulty understanding my teenage children. But I chalked it up to one talking too fast and the other speaking too softly."

A hearing evaluation pinpointed a moderate hearing loss, small enough that Sean calls it a "beginner's hearing loss." But he recognized that untreated, even a beginner's hearing loss could impact the quality of his life.

His first set of hearing aids didn't meet the standards of the sound-savvy keyboardist. "They helped, but the sound quality was unpleasant. The technology just didn't meet my expectations."

A suggestion by Huey Lewis prompted Sean to upgrade to Agil, the newest advanced technology hearing instruments from Oticon. In fact, Sean was among the first people in the U.S. to be fitted for the new hearing solutions that featured wireless connectivity and a variety of technological innovations designed to preserve natural speech cues and give users access to other important sound details.

Just a few weeks into wearing his new Agils, Sean reports that he is noticing big differences in his ability to hear sounds that are important to him. "I'm getting a more natural quality with my new hearing aids," he says. "My previous hearing aids 'colored' the sound quite a bit so it didn't feel authentic. I feel that the sound with my Agils is truer and more precise. It took me no time to adjust to them. The improvement was immediate. And they are comfortable! I forget they're even there. Yesterday, on our tour bus with all the noise and everyone talking at once, I wasn't having any trouble with background noise. That was pretty amazing."

Sean is also aware of an improvement in his ability to locate where sounds are coming from. "I was in my hotel room and I heard a faint clicking sound," he says. "I looked behind me to where the sound was coming from and saw my cell phone about 10 feet away. I realized that the clicking sound was the cell tower updating my phone, coming through the radio next to it- not a phone call or a text message signal - just that very soft burring data sound. And I was able to locate it immediately."
Meeting and greeting fans and VIP guests back stage is a regular part of the concert season for Sean. "I already know that I won't have to be asking people to clarify what they are talking about," he says. "The Agils will greatly improve my meeting the public in a noisy back stage setting."
For a man who has logged more than 123,000 miles in a single year, the ability to stay in touch with family and friends by cell phone is essential. "I have the Streamer and I use that to stream calls from my cell phone directly into my hearing aids," marvels Sean. "I suddenly hear it through both my ears, almost as if the sound is perfectly and naturally centered in my head. I think it's an advantage over people who don't wear hearing aids! The sound coming in through both ears enhances my ability to hear phone conversations even when I'm in very challenging locations, like a busy airport."

New on the horizon for Sean is Soulsville, a new album Huey Lewis and the News recorded in Memphis that features songs from the world renowned Stax Records label. "But I'll tell you what is really exciting for me," he adds, "is heading into the next touring season with my situation radically improved. Great hearing improves everything!"