CRESTVIEW — It's possible to work in the music business with hearing loss; Ludwig Van Beethoven composed some of his most memorable works after going deaf.
But a music teacher must hear students’ performances to nurture their gifts and perfect their skills.
Shoal River Middle School choral music director and keyboard teacher Steve Box's near-loss of his hearing almost spelled the end of his career.
It took almost losing a top student to encourage him to get hearing help.
Box's hearing loss was incremental over several years; he compensated at home — cranking the TV volume so loud his wife bought him headphones — and in the classroom.
“… I stopped playing the piano,” he said. “I used the keyboard more and turned the volume up, and I had to walk up and get in the students’ faces to hear them sing.”
When a prized student almost dropped out of the chorus, it encouraged Box to have his hearing checked.
“I didn’t notice it until about a year ago when a student came up to me and said, ‘I’m getting out of your chorus. You’re killing me. The music is so loud,’” Box said. “At that time, I had the keyboard volume at 100 percent.”
A Pace audiologist determined Box had a 70-75 percent hearing loss.
When Box’s insurance wouldn’t cover hearing aids, estimated between $7,000 and $10,000, Box figured his teaching career was over. But he said the Okaloosa County School District arranged for the devices.
“I didn’t realize I had lost so much (hearing) until the first morning I used the hearing aids,” Box said. “I walked outside with my wife and I said, ‘What’s that noise?’ Probably for the first time in three or four years I could hear the birds and the morning sounds.”
That first day, Box’s students noticed the difference.
“That morning was a very emotional thing,” he said. “One of the students said, ‘Man, the music is not as loud. Are you sure you can hear us?’"
Box's experience opened a conversation to help others.
"… Some of the kids walk around with ear buds and headphones 60 percent of the time," he said. "It started a dialogue about the need to protect their hearing.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hearing loss almost ended Shoal River music teacher's career