Veteran Bollywood singer Alka Yagnik grapples with rare hearing disorder after viral attack
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Veteran Indian singer Alka Yagnik has been diagnosed with a rare sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) due to a viral attack.
The two-time National Award winner disclosed her condition through an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“A few weeks ago, as I walked out of a flight, I suddenly felt I was not able to hear anything.
“It has been diagnosed by my doctors as a rare sensorineural nerve hearing loss due to a viral attack...This sudden major setback has caught me completely unaware.
“As I attempt to come to terms with it, please keep me in your prayers,” Yagnik wrote, adding that she hopes to “recalibrate” her life and return to the music scene soon.
Yagnik, 58, also cautioned her fans and younger colleagues in the music industry about exposure to loud music and the use of headphones.
The Kolkata-born singer has sung over 20,000 songs in her musical career that spans over four decades.
She sprung to fame in the 1990s and 2000s through various evergreen renditions, including Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Taal (2000) title tracks.
Yagnik also shares a record with veteran singer Asha Bhosle as the female playback singer with the highest number of Filmfare Awards, having won the accolade seven times.
In 2022, Guinness World Records named Yagnik the most streamed artist on YouTube, after she garnered 15.3 billion streams worldwide.
