Derek Mooney has revealed he’s secretly been struggling with tinnitus for the past 20 years.
Tinnitus is when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, the 53-year-old said: “There is no cure for what I have. It’s with me all the time, but when I focus on it, it becomes much, much worse.”
“It stops you sleeping. All you can hear is this awful noise, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop it. I have it all the time.”
Derek explained: “I can’t cope with a silent room. There has to be a radio on. If I walk out of my house, I have to have a radio playing in my pocket, and I avoid quiet places.”
“I have to fill it with something or else I get the same leaking gas pipe sound in my left ear. It’s depressing at times. Thank God, I only have it in my left ear.”
The broadcaster believes his tinnitus was caused by a routine trip to the barbers, when he had a wet shave.
“My memory is that they used a little mechanical device after it to massage my chin,” he recalled.
“The vibration went into my jaw and when I came out, there was this noise in my left ear and I’ve had it ever since.”
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