WOODZ has revealed that he lives with Meniere’s disease, a rare inner-ear condition he says cannot be completely cured, during a recent voice livestream with fans.
According to OSEN, the singer said stress-related hearing loss in the low-frequency range has left him highly sensitive to low sounds. He said he first learned of the condition before his military enlistment, after visiting a hospital because of severe headaches.
“This is a rare, unusual disease called Meniere’s,” WOODZ said, adding that it cannot be fully cured and that he has dealt with stress-related low-frequency hearing loss since childhood.
Meniere’s disease is caused by an abnormality in the inner ear and can bring on recurring dizziness, hearing loss, ringing in the ears and a feeling of pressure or fullness in the ear, the report explained. WOODZ said the condition has at times made performing on stage difficult.
He credited veteran singer Lee Seung-chul with helping him find a way through it. Lee advised him to tune out everything except the piano and the click track, and WOODZ said following that advice let him lock onto pitch more accurately. “You were hearing the orchestra, but during the ballad section all I heard was the piano and the click,” he said. “It was completely different from what you were hearing.”
WOODZ is not the first Korean entertainer to speak publicly about the condition. The report noted that actors Han Ji-min and Yoo Ji-tae, as well as singer Yoon Jong-shin, are also known to live with Meniere’s disease, putting WOODZ’s disclosure in a small but familiar group of public figures who have talked about it.
The revelation comes at the end of a busy stretch for the singer. WOODZ and Lee Seung-chul released their duet “Our Own Story” on September 30, and he closed his eight-month Archive 1 world tour with two solo concerts at Seoul’s KSPO DOME on October 31 and November 1, under the banner “2026 WOODZ WORLD TOUR Archive. 1: Completed.”
WOODZ has built his solo career on a hands-on approach to his music, writing and producing much of his own material, and the disclosure adds new context to the live performances fans watched at his Seoul finale just over a week ago. No official statement from his agency was included in the report.
