BTS star V has revealed that he is dealing with significant hearing loss in his right ear while continuing treatment during the group’s massive “ARIRANG” world tour. According to the singer, if his left ear is operating at 100%, his right is currently closer to 30%. The problem has lasted for more than two years and, he says, became worse during his military service.

BTS star V has spoken openly for the first time about a hearing problem that has been affecting him far longer than fans realized. During a livestream on Wednesday, August 12, the 30-year-old singer revealed that hearing in his right ear has dropped significantly and that he is now receiving medical care, taking medication and making regular hospital visits. The disclosure came while BTS are in the middle of the global “ARIRANG” tour, their first major full-group run since all seven members completed their military or alternative service obligations.

V described the difference between his ears in unusually direct terms. If the hearing in his left ear is considered 100%, he said the right side is currently around 30%. He did not share a specific diagnosis, and no detailed medical explanation has been released by his team. What he did make clear is that the issue is not new. He has been dealing with it for more than two years, and according to him, the condition became worse during his military service.

That detail may be the most revealing part of his comments. V admitted that he did not initially treat the problem as seriously as he should have. He believed he could push through it and described his earlier attitude as if the issue were something that could be beaten through mental strength. For someone who has spent years working under intense schedules and performance pressure, that instinct is easy to understand. It is also a reminder of how quickly a physical symptom can be minimized when endurance has become part of everyday professional life.

For a singer, hearing is not simply another health concern. It is part of the basic equipment needed to perform. Pitch, vocal control, timing, balance with the other members, in-ear monitor levels and the overall sound of a stadium performance all depend on how clearly an artist can hear what is happening around them. Any major hearing reduction can change the way a performer experiences the stage, even if the audience sees no obvious difference.

That is what gives V’s disclosure extra weight. He is not making the announcement while stepping away from music or taking months off. He is continuing to perform as part of one of the most demanding tours in the world. From the audience, the performance may still look effortless. Behind that image, however, he is adjusting to a physical issue that fans had no way of seeing.

The “ARIRANG” tour carries unusual emotional importance for BTS. It is the group’s major return as seven members after more than four years apart from full-scale touring and after the period when each member completed military service or an equivalent obligation. The comeback was always going to carry huge expectations from ARMY, not only because the members were reunited, but because fans wanted to see how BTS would sound, move and perform together after such a long break.

V’s comments now add another layer to those performances. The ease and confidence he shows on stage exist alongside a health issue that requires treatment, monitoring and daily adjustment. That contrast is often missing from the way stadium tours are discussed. Audiences see the finished show. They do not always see the physical cost, the medical appointments or the small changes an artist may need in order to keep performing night after night.

Importantly, V did not present the situation in a dramatic way. He did not speak as though he were asking for sympathy, and he did not suggest that he plans to leave the tour. The most important change is in the way he is handling the problem now. He is taking medication, visiting the hospital regularly and treating the condition as something that needs real medical attention rather than something he should simply overcome by forcing himself harder.

That shift matters because it comes after another demanding period in his life. V began his military service in 2023 and completed it in June 2025. He said the hearing problem became worse during that time. He did not explain why, and there is no basis for assuming a specific cause. The clear point is simply that the problem did not disappear on its own and has now reached a level where ongoing care is necessary.

His disclosure also arrived alongside another health concern inside the group. Jung Kook joined the conversation and said he has been dealing with a problem in his shin during the tour. According to him, he is close to developing a stress fracture and needs to manage the injury carefully so he can continue performing.

Hearing two members discuss physical issues at nearly the same time highlights just how demanding a stadium tour can be. These shows are not limited to two or three hours under stage lights. There are rehearsals, flights, time-zone changes, choreography, vocal work, media obligations and limited recovery time between cities. When a tour stretches across continents and continues for months, even a manageable problem can become more serious if it is ignored.

BTS had just completed two shows at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore when V spoke about his hearing. The next stop is AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with concerts scheduled for August 15 and 16. The North American leg then continues with two nights in Toronto on August 22 and 23, two shows in Chicago on August 27 and 28, and four final dates at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on September 1, 2, 5 and 6.

That means V made the disclosure in the middle of a packed schedule rather than during a quiet period. There is little room for the kind of extended rest most people would associate with a medical issue. After North America, the “ARIRANG” tour moves to South America in October, followed later by dates across Asia and Australia into early 2027.

For ARMY, health news involving any BTS member naturally creates concern. Few global pop acts have a fan relationship as intense or emotionally invested as BTS, and even a brief mention of injury or illness can spread across social media within minutes. In this case, though, the most useful reading is not panic. It is that V has moved from minimizing the problem to treating it seriously.

There is also a wider conversation here about the way weakness is often handled in modern pop. Artists are trained to continue. They are expected to walk on stage while exhausted, hide discomfort and keep the audience from noticing when something is wrong. The image of control is part of the job. V’s admission that he once treated the hearing issue as a test of mental strength shows how deeply that logic can become part of a performer’s thinking.

Recognizing that something needs a doctor is not the opposite of strength. In many cases, it is what allows a career to continue over the long term. For an artist whose future is measured in decades rather than one album cycle or one tour, protecting hearing now matters more than finishing one more show without adjustment.

The next phase will likely require balance. V will need to continue treatment while dealing with a tour that is still expanding across multiple continents. It is not known whether his hearing can improve, whether the condition will stay stable or whether additional changes will eventually be needed in rehearsals, monitoring or performance setup. Those are medical and technical questions that only his care team and production staff can answer.

What is known is that he is no longer trying to pretend the problem is not there. That may be the most important part of everything he shared. V is still on stage with BTS, still performing for stadium crowds and still part of one of the biggest comeback tours in pop. But this time, he is not depending on willpower alone.

He is receiving treatment, monitoring the condition and acknowledging that some limits cannot be solved by pushing harder. As the “ARIRANG” tour continues, the question will no longer be whether V can simply endure the problem. It will be how he and the team protect his hearing while allowing him to keep doing the work he clearly wants to continue.