Deaf comic hears music for first time in 40 years - and is now a Swiftie

A deaf comedian unable to enjoy new music since 1983 now wants to become a Taylor Swift fan thanks to a pair of Bluetooth hearing aids. Steve Day, 60, from Sutton Coldfield, noticed he was losing his hearing while at university at 18 – feeling as though a youth of promoting music bands and attending loud gigs “every night” could have contributed to his hearing loss.

By 24, doctors told Steve he had severe and profound hearing loss in both ears and would need hearing aids – causing him to “reject all music” for close to 40 years after he found he needed to rely on his memory to recall his favourite songs, leaving him with depression and “dark thoughts” due to his impairment.

During this time, the married father-of-five shifted his career from IT to stand-up comedy, and while he sometimes feels “vulnerable” on stage, he can use his deafness to his advantage – where on one occasion, a broken microphone saved his set and the audience ended up “loving” him.

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Years went by and Steve has now fallen back in love with new music after he discovered hearing aids which allow for a Bluetooth connection in 2021, meaning he can reconnect with his old favourites of The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd – and more recently Taylor Swift.

Since joining social media platform TikTok this summer, Steve called out to the Swiftie community to ask how he can join – and he has been overwhelmed by the response and he now listens to the ten-minute version of All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) every morning. “Taylor Swift is the first new music I’ve listened to since 1983,” Steve, who has been a stand-up comedian for 26 years, told PA Real Life.

“I listened to a bit of music but it would mostly be from memory, so I didn’t have the confidence to listen to anything new. I’ve now started with (Swift’s) Red album which I really, really like – I do yoga every morning and there’s a 10-minute version of All Too Well which is the perfect length.”

Steve noticed he was losing his hearing while studying engineering at the University of Liverpool. “I lived a bit of a tumultuous life, I helped promote bands and I was involved in music so it was loud every night,” he said.

“I didn’t get my hearing sorted out for years and something happened, whether it was an infection or something else – but I went from not even having considered it to being pretty much deaf. I should have just embraced it and I would have been fine, but it’s hard at that age.”

At 24, doctors told Steve he had severe and profound hearing loss in both ears and would need hearing aids – which led to him struggling with depression and becoming “isolated” due to his impairment. “I was really, really depressed and I was having dark and suicidal thoughts,” he said.

“It’s completely unthinkable now but at the time, I was thinking ‘what’s the point?’ I became more and more isolated and my way of dealing with it was to withdraw, I spent a lot of time on my own and in my own head.”

Steve also found himself shutting music out, becoming frustrated at not being able to hear his favourite bands or songs. “I rejected the whole of it – I had a massive vinyl collection I’d been building since I was 12 and I just got rid of it,” he said.

Years later and Steve started working in IT, but he decided to change course when he saw an advertisement in a magazine for night school classes focused on stand-up comedy, based in Holborn, central London.

After launching onto the stage for his first official gig in 1998 at the age of 35, Steve found himself at home. “It took audiences a lot longer to come around to agree with me, but I knew this is what I was meant to do,” he said.

“Stand-up is the thing I was least worst at.” Being a deaf stand-up comedian comes with its advantages, Steve said.

“It makes it harder and you are vulnerable but there are so many advantages – first of all you’re different to everybody else on the bill,” he said. “I don’t just want to be a deaf comedian but it will always come in because it’s in everything I do.”

Steve recalled a moment when his impairment worked in his favour during a large and prestigious comedy show in Camden in 2005. He said he was “dying” and the audience were “switching off” – when his microphone stopped working during the set.

“I was the only person who didn’t know it had stopped working until a technician ran over switched the microphone over,” he said. “I pointed at the crowd and said, ‘how long were going going to let me go on?’ and people really started laughing… they loved me by the end of it.”

While Steve has adapted to his hearing impairment within his career, he has still struggled to listen to new music – but hearing aids which enable Bluetooth have changed the game, allowing him to venture into Swift’s discography following positive recommendations from friends.

“With these hearing aids, I can actually listen to music in a way I haven’t before,” he said. “Even though I’m deafer than I’ve ever been, my hearing of music is better than it’s been since I was 18.

“I’m still feeling my way with Taylor Swift because there’s a lot to absorb and even though my hearing is better, it still takes some work to acquire a song – but it’s been worth it. Ready For It? and Shake It Off – all of those I love.”

Steve joined TikTok this summer, where he shares clips from his stand-up gigs and over the last few months he has reached out to the Swiftie community to see if he can become a certified member. “I did a video to say, ‘help me, how do I become a Swiftie?’ – it went from 200 views to 60,000,” Steve said.

The clip also has more than 1,000 comments from Swift’s fans giving Steve tips on where to start, such as watching the Eras Tour movie or listening to her albums chronologically. They have also sent him gifts, including a mug and friendship bracelets, to get him in the spirit.

“The response from Swifties is so fantastic and the people have been really, really nice,” he said. “I haven’t even scratched the surface with Taylor Swift’s music, which is great, but it’s something I know will be an ongoing pleasure.”