Rod Alford describes the moment he woke up profoundly deaf after surgery as like someone flipping a switch on his life.
The Toowoomba local suffered vertigo and loss of balance three years ago.
Doctors found he had ruptured a superior ear canal and had a small hole in the base of his skull, either from "a small trauma or I was over excessive in my exercise".
"Either way, I burst it," he said.
After a routine operation to try and fix the problem, Mr Alford awoke with his hearing almost gone in both ears.
"I went into [surgery] with no fear," he said.
"The typical Australian attitude: it'll never happen to me."
But from that moment Mr Alford's life changed.
"Suddenly my work was gone," he said.
"It put enormous pressure on my wife, Wendy, because she had to become my driver.
"We used to go to a lot of live concerts, movies, restaurants. It stopped because I couldn't hear."
Simply walking also became a challenge as Mr Alford needed wheelie-walker with his wife guiding him.
Prevent the preventable
Hearing Australia's principal audiologist Karen Hirschausen said many people did not recognise the risk of deafness until it was too late.
Causes varied greatly, she said, but most could be prevented.
"There are different illnesses and viruses, as well as natural ageing," Ms Hirschausen said.
"But the most common cause of preventable hearing loss is noise.
"It's certainly the one we want to put a spotlight on this year."
Ms Hirschausen said noise safety regulations only went so far in preventing hearing loss.
"There are definitely rules around workplace safety and they're responsible for providing hearing protection to their workers," she said.
"But we also have to take on the individual responsibility which more often than not is recreational loud noises.
"Pubs and gigs where there's loud live music, that's an area where we really want people to have a think about the noise that they're exposed to."
The major culprit is headphone use, according to audiologists.
"The World Health Organisation estimates that globally over 1.1 billion young people are potentially at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged headphone use," Ms Hirschausen said.
According to experts, if a person can hear headphone audio from two metres away, it is too loud.
"We also recommend regular listening breaks too, so every 45 to 60 minutes," she said.
"And a lot of devices have some safety mechanisms built into them as well.
"I know with iPhones, you can set your airpods to restrict the amount of volume."
The first signs of deafness involved social interactions, according to Ms Hirschausen.
"So you may have family members or friends comment that you're listening to the television a little bit louder than what they like to hear it at," she said.
"Or if you just find yourself asking people to repeat themselves a little bit more regularly.
"Any ringing or buzzing in your ears when there's no other sounds around can also be a sign that there's been some damage done to your hearing."
Life after deafness
Advances in hearing technology have been a game-changer for Rod Alford.
Six months after his operation, and after a series of tests, he qualified for a cochlear implant.
"A cochlear is a device that talks directly to the nerve in your head," Mr Alford said.
But it was a slow process to hear the world again.
After six months, Mr Alford said he was recognising 70 percent of words.
"I believe in luck. It's what you make it and I expected it to work," he said.
A hearing aid in Mr Alford's right ear also provided bi-lateral hearing.
Now two years after his operation, he said he used the cochlear implant to his advantage.
"We went to a Cure concert at Wembley Stadium and I just got my phone, opened the [cochlear] app and I turned down my level to where I could enjoy it," he said.
"The technology is just marvellous."
