Suddenly I heard nothing on my left side
It was an ordinary drive home. No performance, no studio, no noise. And yet, it started suddenly: a high-pitched ringing, dull, persistent. Composer Stephen Emmer lost his hearing and reinvented himself.
It is an existential threat
Suddenly it was there: “A sound in my ear. Not loud, but it didn't stop.” In the days that followed, it persisted. Weeks turned into months, months into years. His left ear slowly failed. “I literally have no hearing left on the left,” Emmer says: “zero percent.” For a composer, that is not just inconvenient: it is an existential threat.
Stephen Emmer is the composer of famous television theme tunes and signature music, with a career spanning decades and stations. For years, his work could be heard in almost every Dutch household. “A fan once said: you can be heard on radio or TV every seven minutes.” It is hard to imagine that he, of all people, the master of audio, completely lost his hearing on one side, and carried on.
From silent threat to harsh reality
The tinnitus began slowly. Emmer didn't know exactly where it came from: “No explosion, no concert that turned everything upside down. Just… a beginning. And it never went away.”
When the diagnosis came, it was definitive: chronic tinnitus and permanent hearing loss in the left ear. “There is no medication. No treatment. No hope, really.” He continued working, but his working method had to change: “You no longer hear a stereo image. Spatiality disappears. You have to rely on technique instead of feeling.”
The impact went beyond work. “You no longer hear where a sound is coming from. In a restaurant, it is like sitting in a fog. It is socially isolating.”
A man of recognition
Stephen Emmer started as a musician in the 1980s, venturing into pop, avant-garde, and soundtrack work. He soon found his niche in audio branding: short, recognisable melodies that give brands and programs identity. His work can be heard on the NOS Journaal, RTL Boulevard, and countless other programs, among others.
“Making tunes is a craft,” he says: “it’s not just music. It has to be right down to two seconds. It has to stick in your head. And it has to be functional.” He won multiple Buma Awards, worked internationally, and became a fixture in the media industry.
Yet he now sees how that world is changing, and not necessarily in a positive sense.
AI devours the market
In addition to his physical limitations, Emmer also sees a digital threat looming: generative AI: “For look-alike music, AI is ideal. Faster, cheaper, good enough. And therefore first in line.” The work in which he poured his craftsmanship is increasingly being replaced by algorithms.
He calls it “the beginning of the end of the golden age for tunes.” Not only because of AI, but also because linear TV is declining, budgets are shrinking, and attention spans are becoming shorter: “Where identity used to be important, speed and volume are now the guiding principles.”
Yet he does not believe in sitting still. Emmer founded Artists Against Tinnitus, a foundation through which he aims to educate musicians and advocate for awareness regarding hearing problems: “We musicians are not only victims of loud noise, but also perpetrators. We must take responsibility.”
He is also working on an album that specifically focuses on the relationship between sound and silence. “Paradoxical perhaps, but fitting.”
What remains
Despite everything, the hearing loss, the AI threat, the shift in the market, Emmer continues to compose: “I work slower, more calmly. But the fire is still there. Perhaps even brighter than ever.”
The impact of his work is difficult to measure in Spotify streams or YouTube views. But anyone watching or listening to Dutch television hears his hand. Every tune is a mini-identity, and for decades, Emmer was the voice behind the scenes.
He is now more realistic about his place: “I used to want everything. Now I am happy if I can still add something. You become more humble.”
Three lessons from Stephen Emmer
1) Actively protect your hearing – “Once you have damage, it is too late. Don’t think it won’t happen to you.”
2) Stay relevant, but don’t lose your soul – “You cannot beat AI on speed. But you can on character.”
3) Recognize your moment of shift – “When my left ear failed, I had to reinvent my way of working. You can ignore or embrace that moment.”
In a world that sounds increasingly loud, Stephen Emmer hears only half. But what he still hears, he composes all the more consciously.
[Emerce Doorzetters - Ruud Hendriks]