Paul Simon hasn’t ‘given up hope’ of performing again after hearing loss

Paul Simon, a 16-time Grammy winner, says hearing in his left ear is now at about 8%. Photo: TNS

Paul Simon is keeping a positive tune as he deals with hearing loss.

The Newark-born, Queens-raised singer-songwriter began losing hearing in his left ear about two and a half years ago, he told CBS Sunday Morning in a new interview.

Simon, who released the studio album Seven Psalms last month, hopes his surprise performance at the Newport Folk Festival last year wasn’t his last.

“I really wanted to perform the Seven Psalms,” Simon, 81, told CBS. “I haven’t given up hope, but I’m prepared to accept that I might not be able to.”

Simon, a 16-time Grammy winner, said hearing in his left ear is now at about 8%.

“It’s upsetting,” Simon said. “I can still hear well enough to play guitar and write. But I can’t hear well enough to play with five or six musicians. Maybe that’s fine. Maybe there’s something to be learned from that?”

Asked what he might learn, Simon replied, “I have to see what it is. Acceptance of, you know, less? That’s life. You know, people have a lot worse than this.”

Seven Psalms is Simon’s 15th studio album as a solo artiste. He also released five studio albums with Art Garfunkel as part of the famed duo Simon & Garfunkel, whose many hits include Mrs. Robinson and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Simon previously spoke about his hearing loss during a May interview with British outlet The Sunday Times, saying it happened “quite suddenly” and that “nobody has an explanation for it.”

“Everything became more difficult,” Simon told the newspaper. “My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service