Woody Cook’s childhood was filled with music, often at a very loud volume. As the son of radio presenter Zoe Ball and Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, he inherited his parents’ love of the latest tunes and has followed in his father’s footsteps and become a club DJ.
“I was around music a lot during my childhood,” says Woody, now 23, who also stars in Celebrity Gogglebox with Zoe.
“I used to have my earphones in at full volume all night long playing Now That’s What I Call Music when I was about 12 to 14. I would fall asleep and wake up seven hours later and it had been blasting into my ears all night. I remember my mum going, ‘you’ll damage your hearing!’”
Unfortunately, she was right and Woody now lives with tinnitus. The main symptom is a sense of hearing a sound which other people don’t, and which doesn’t come from an external source.
About 7.6 million people in the UK have it and while each person’s experience varies, commonly the sounds are ringing, buzzing or hissing which can vary in volume, be constant or come and go, greatly impacting everyday life.
“I first experienced it when I was about 12,” recalls Woody. “I was just sitting in my room and thought all the lights were buzzing really loudly – or I assumed that was what was making the noise. Then I kept getting it when it was quiet – this mild ringing sound which effectively I shrugged off as just the sound you hear when it’s quiet.
“When I was about 17 I mentioned it to friends and they replied, ‘What ringing?’ I said, ‘The sound we hear when it’s all quiet’ and they looked at me blankly. Then I realised it was just me. Someone said it was tinnitus, which was something I’d never even heard of before.
Growing up, Woody went to raves, festivals and live events where his dad was DJ-ing. “I went to Glastonbury, Latitude, Camp Bestival and a bunch of other festivals and gigs, so definitely I heard lots of loud music,” recalls Woody.
“Because of the nature of my parents’ lives, all the parties were in our house and they would also be loud. It does mean I can now fall asleep anywhere, even with a fire alarm going off though,” he jokes.
Although he has not been formally diagnosed with tinnitus, Woody has textbook symptoms and is planning to get tested for hearing loss. According to the charity Tinnitus UK, about 80 per cent of people with severe hearing loss also experience tinnitus, so experts believe there’s a link between them.
“These days, I’ve a continual electric buzz or high-pitched noise in my head which can be annoying or disruptive depending on how bad it is,” says Woody.
“I try not to let my tinnitus bother me, although sometimes I’m lying there quietly and hear it which concerns me more. I have some friends with tinnitus who have to listen to podcasts or music to fall asleep because the ringing sound is so annoying.”
Because of his own experience, Woody has now partnered with Specsavers to encourage people to safeguard their hearing. Also fronting the campaign are singer Lulu and the Night Time Industries Association, which represents staff working in venues like clubs, bars and pubs. They want people to take steps to protect their hearing after a new poll found half of gig-goers think loud music has damaged it.
“I don’t think enough people think about the damage caused to their hearing,” says Woody. “Once I realised I had tinnitus, I turned down my headphones from 100 per cent to 70 per cent and didn’t stand as close to speakers at gigs. Tiny fixes like this can help.”
He has also recently started using custom moulded earplugs. “This type of protection lowers the sound without silencing it as that’s what I need as a DJ and a consumer of music,” he says. “I don’t want to block out the music but just lower it to a point where it’s healthy. I wish I’d known about the risks earlier.”
Gordon Harrison, chief audiologist at Specsavers, adds: “Repeated exposure to high decibel levels at gigs and festivals has the potential to lead to permanent damage, such as sound-induced hearing loss and tinnitus.
“In fact, hearing damage can start at around 85dB (which is roughly the level of sound made by heavy traffic) if you’re exposed for around eight hours without ear protection. Each additional 3dB of volume cuts that exposure time in half, so by the time the volume reaches 100dB, which is still less than the average gig, it could only take 15 minutes for your hearing to be damaged.”
Woody tries to make light of his own issues. “When my mum said to me ‘turn it down!’ I just said, ‘Stop being boring and old’, so I now blame Mum for my tinnitus,” he jokes.
“But the truth is, it’s probably largely self-inflicted. We all now know it’s sensible to wear sun protection. In the same way, people need to protect their hearing.
“I want to make young people – especially ones who go to gigs, listen to loud music on headphones or work in music venues like I do – more aware. You need to look after your hearing while you’re young so it will last you for when you’re older.”
For more about hearing protection at Specsavers, visit specsavers.co.uk/hearing. For further details on the campaign, go to ntia.co.uk/listen-for-life-campaign