Penni Feather

Location: Waikato

Challenge: Deaf / Hearing Impaired

Website: facebook.com/pennifeather

Penni Feather is the stage name of a singer, guitarist and songwriter from New Zealand. Since early 2014 Penni has been completely deaf in one ear and with a moderate to severe hearing loss in the other.

Penni started performing in rock, folk and blues bands in her late teens. By her mid-twenties her punk-folk trio was gigging several nights a week and the day job had to go! Around the same time she noticed a hearing loss in her right ear and was diagnosed with otosclerosis. This sometimes made deciphering speech in background noise a little tricky, but music seemed unaffected.

Over the next couple of decades Penni worked as a professional musician and as a singing coach. Gigging several nights a week in popular pub bands plus session singing in Auckland was followed by a move to the South Island tourist mecca of Queenstown. There she performed solo, in duos and in bands with some of New Zealand’s top musicians, across genres that included rock, blues, jazz, soul and Americana. She also became a major force in Queenstown’s burgeoning theatre and comedy scene and toured nationally in a feminist comedy and music show.

Penni then gained a Master’s degree in Theatre Directing from the New Zealand Drama School and went on to be head of a tertiary Performing Arts programme. It was while teaching there that she noticed her hearing was now going in her left ear. Hearing aids helped, but weren’t ideal for singing. For the next few years she continued to work as a musician - touring all over the North Island with her Americana duo, teaching singing and running an acapella choir - but as her hearing continued to deteriorate, coping in some situations was becoming more of an effort. Penni had a stapedectomy in 2014 to correct the hearing in her worst ear. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong with the operation did, leaving her with an unresponsive right ear, tinnitus, and a loss of vestibular balance function on that side.

It was a slow journey back to playing music. Penni was determined to sing and play again and found ways to hear and sense what she was doing. She gradually built up her stamina from ten minute spots to full length shows. In an odd way, hearing loss has made her appreciate music more, and needing to actively listen has given her greater understanding of musical nuance. Since she began writing and playing again, Penni’s vocal range, interpretations of songs by others and original songs have won praise – and disbelief that she has a severe hearing loss. Penni Feather performs at house concerts and festivals – and most things in between

This video is a cover of a Ryan Adams song, Dirty Rain. Reading about how he coped with Meniere's was an inspiration and help to me in rehabilitating myself. (This was the first time Penni performed in public after the sudden hearing loss)

Penni Feather