So basically, her love and dedication for the fans ended up ruining her health.. I wonder if she's okay even now :o lol

she probably is. :3 She did do 26 concerts of AT05!

Or just done a forum search, since this topic has been discussed many, many times.

Well, I wouldn't say she is "OK" now. When you damage your ears, it is permanent. She said just last year in a message to her fans: "Honestly speaking, I'm not in a negative mood regarding this matter.
　　Because all of you listen to my songs in place of my left ear, don't you?"

Which makes it seem like she can't hear in that ear well at all.

Also, many people have said that her hearing has probably "come back." Like I said before, generally hearing loss is permanent. It's different when you have an infection - usually then your hearing will come back. Also going to concerts, afterwords for up to a few hours your hearing might be lessoned and will slowly come back - that's certainly not a sure thing though. It also takes just one sound to render you with permanent damage. (such as a bomb etc.) But the fact that Ayu is constantly hearing high decibal sounds makes it even worse. I'm still suprised that she performs as often as she does. In the past I think it was mainly Avex pushing her to do so, but now I believe it is herself. She has made comments before that if she didn't have her music, she didn't have a reason to exist. So I think she pushes herself extra hard.

I know a lot about this issue because back in May, I went to a rock concert and was right in front of the amps the whole time and my hearing was completely messed up for a week! I was seriously thinking that I was going to have permanent damage in both ears - luckily my hearing eventually came back - but I got a taste of how fearful it would be to be permanently like that. So I definitely feel for Ayumi.

What happens is, tiny little hairs in your ear pic up vibrations and then that is translated to your brain as sound. What happens when you hear loud noises, is those hairs are flattened. Generally they are resillient and will stand back up after a few hours (though in my case it took much longer). However, if they are constently pummeled or something super, super loud is heard in an instant, they will flatten permanently and thus you are left with deafness for the rest of your life as there is no surgery that can be done to fix this. They are working on a medication that will help regenerate the hairs, but so far no luck.

So yeah, uh - I don't think Ayu's left ear has "come back". I think she has just learned to live with it, as there is really nothing that can be done.

Also, that ringing she heard in her ears is called Tinnitus. Hopefully at least that has gone away because people who do have it, generally can't sleep at night unless they knock themselves out with pills or something. (could you sleep if you had constant noise in your ears?)

Sorry about the long post. :) I just got really interested in this subject after my brief experience. Now I bring earplugs to every concert I go to.

Ooo, cool! Thanks for the indepth info, SunshineSlayer! :D

Actually I think it was more, "I still can't answer the phone by my left ear." I'm pretty sure she isn't completely deaf in her left ear.

Well, they never actually said she lost her ear in the interview.. and wasn't the 'I can't answer the telephone' comment like, in 2002? o_o She was putting the earplug in and she was putting her head down and stuff..

Weird.
Zeo

Ayu lost her hearing in one year because of the Dome Tour? O_o, this makes showbusiness sound really unhealthy..

I think, even before the Dome Tour, she began to have problems but then as the Dome Tour progressed, it got worse.. I believe.

Zeo

Thanks for your information. :)
I hear that Ayumi's deaf case before but I'm not really believe it.

The comment was from 2004, they were just showing footage from 2001 when they played the comment.

Well, I think the rumour came from the "NTV 2004 Special Interview" in that interview they were filming her while she almost lost her LEFT ear becuase of being exposed to high decibel levels frequently..... and in the interview they tell us that she have had this problem since she was young and it´s not only recently.... then it´s up to you to trust the interview or not.... but see this on a bright side... even if ayu got a problem with her left ear she still doesn´t quit and struggles on for US(fans) that kind of spirit can´t be found anywhere and I´m really happy for that fact.... :):):):):):):)

As Ayu says: "Sometimes, when I pick up the phone, I still can hear from my left (or right?) ear."

Really? Why didn't i hear any of this? I hope it's just temporary...Maybe Avex should be working on not putting the music up THAT loud >_>;;

Well, the music HAS to be loud enough so that it reaches all the 3000+++ fans, after all, even the people in the back need to hear.. dunno why they don't use something else, but eh~ :X

Zeo