How AC/DC singer Brian Johnson avoided permanent hearing loss

It seemed a sad twist of fate: if Brian Johnson didn’t quit, the same rock ‘n’ roll music to which he’d devoted his life would permanently destroy his hearing.

AC/DC, back for the band’s 17th album: Cliff Williams, left, Phil Rudd, Angus Young, Brian Johnson and Stevie Young. Picture: Josh Cheuse

When singer Brian Johnson first joined AC/DC to record its mega-selling 1980 release Back in Black, the title of its closing track was a defiant statement that also summarised the group’s ethos: Rock ’n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution.

Yet partway through the band’s world tour in 2016, Johnson was forced to stop performing immediately lest he go deaf.

It seemed a sad twist of fate: if he didn’t quit, the rock ’n’ roll music to which he’d devoted his life would destroy his hearing.

“I think the hard part for him at that time was that, from what he’d been told by ­doctors, ‘If you don’t stop, you’re going to be going into the deaf world’,” guitarist and songwriter Angus Young told The Weekend Australian.

For the rest of that tour, ­Johnson was replaced by Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose; the last AC/DC performance took place in September 2016.

Unwilling to throw in the towel entirely, the British-born singer responded to a YouTube video uploaded by an American audio scientist, Stephen Ambrose, who in the 1970s invented wireless in-ear monitors that allowed music­ians to hear each other clearly amid the onstage din.

“Brian, I really can’t imagine anyone but you singing Back in Black, or any other part of the show for that matter,” Ambrose said in his video.

Soon, Johnson invited the invent­or to his home in Florida to trial a device named the Ambrose Diaphonic Ear Lens, or ADEL.

Stephen Ambrose, chief scientist and founder of US company Asius Technologies. Picture: Garnet Ambrose

Speaking exclusively with The Weekend Australian, Ambrose recalled that first meeting. “I told Brian: You’ll know in three ­minutes whether or not this can help you — and if not, I’m out of your hair,” he said. “Sure enough, it was very obvious­ immediately that it would work.

“Then it was: OK, let’s try and make it into something that you can not only use on stage, but you can use as a hearing aid in life.”

After nearly three years of monthly visits to Florida to finetune and miniaturise the device, Ambrose and his small team at Asius Technologies finalised a device­ that allowed Johnson to return­ to the band.

His vocals on AC/DC’s 17th album, Power Up — due for release­ on November 13 — are as powerful as ever, and the band intend­s to return to the stage as soon as possible post-pandemic.

“It’s really a labour of love, to be honest with you,” said Ambrose of helping to restore Johnson’s hearing. “We’re so lucky to be able to do this; it doesn’t seem like work.”