Rush Limbaugh discloses his hearing loss

Radio talk-show host and Cape Girardeau native Rush Limbaugh told listeners Monday that he is "virtually deaf," but he wants to continue his nationally syndicated talk show.

Limbaugh said he steadily has been losing his hearing over the past four months. Limbaugh's show is heard on 680 stations with an audience of more than 22 million a week. He recently renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks through 2009 for a record amount.

Limbaugh's younger brother, Cape Girardeau lawyer and best-selling author David Limbaugh, said he knew the announcement was coming. The two communicate by e-mail now for convenience and because of the hearing loss.

"I noticed a gigantic difference in the last month," David Limbaugh said. "Then it got acute in the last two weeks. When I tried to talk to him, he would say, 'I can't hear anything you're saying. If you're asking how I'm doing, just listen, and we'll e-mail later.'"

He said he was saddened by the development but is confident his brother will overcome the disability and continue the radio show.

Don Zimmer of Zimmer Broadcasting, a Cape Girardeau company with a contract to carry the show on some radio stations, said loss of the show would be devastating. He also expressed personal concern about Limbaugh's condition.

Limbaugh told his audience he noticed in May that he had trouble hearing in his left ear. He said it had progressively worsened to the point where he is totally deaf in that ear. He has partial hearing in his right ear, he said.

"I can occasionally talk to people in person one on one if their voice frequency happens to fit the range that I can still hear, but I cannot hear radio," he said.

He said he has been to doctors and clinics across the country.

Limbaugh, 50, has been doing his conservative-themed radio show for 14 years. He said he is experimenting with ways that he can still communicate with telephone callers. If that doesn't work, he may do the show without callers.