14 DAY TRIAL // He was once one of the hottest and most in-demand action movie stars, and the years spent on sets where explosions and shoot-outs took place eventually left their mark on Jean Claude Van Damme’s health: he’s been diagnosed with hearing problems.
JCVD is not deaf but he does have serious issues with understanding conversations, it has emerged.
On the latest episode of “Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors,” the reality series now airing in the UK, the actor goes to see a specialist and learns that he has hearing problems, Contact Music reports.
These stem from the years of being on movie sets without no hearing protection whatsoever; the loud noises around him have left his hearing impaired.
JCVD is the first to admit that.
“I shot lots of guns in movies but I’m able to hear unusual sounds, like if you slide fax paper in the living room I can hear it, like a German Shepherd,” he can be heard saying on the latest episode of the series.
The doctor then explains to him that he suffers from high-frequency hearing loss, which has nothing to do with hearing the aforementioned “unusual” sounds.
“There is a difference in hearing in high frequencies between both sides [of his ears], which means if many people are talking together in a group, it’s quite difficult for you to understand someone speaking. You hear, but you can’t understand,” the specialist tells the actor.
“That’s the problem when there’s a high-frequency hearing loss. What you can do is not make it worse, so use ear protection when you go out (and shoot) movies,” he adds.
In October last year, the first signs that JCVD’s health was taking a turn for the worse seemed to emerge, when reports spread online that he’d stopped shooting for “Weapon” because he checked into a hospital after suffering a heart attack.
The actor’s rep denied the reports, saying JCVD was as healthy as ever.