Bryan Adams Gives An Earful

These days, everything Bryan Adams does, he does it for … hearing-loss awareness! The Canadian rocker—famous for his swoony single on the soundtrack to 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and for the nostalgia-fest “Summer of ’69”—is also a photographer, and he’s put together a show of ear-related portraits in his role as official ambassador for the Hear the World Foundation.

On May 1, Mr. Adams revealed his Hear the World photo exhibit in Chelsea. In his shots, celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Mick Jagger and Moby cup their ears in a kind of iconic “listen up” pose. “Music and hearing have an obvious intertwining, so of course, I thought it’d be great to be involved,” Mr. Adams said, standing in the middle of the gallery of giant black-and-white portraits. “Mick was fun to shoot,” he said, stopping just short of revealing which picture was his favorite. “They’re all wonderful. Everyone was really receptive to the idea.”

After years of playing stadiums and dive clubs, Mr. Adams, 48, said his “top level” hearing is down 30 percent. Yikes! What if his hearing gets worse? What New York sounds would he miss? “What? Besides people yelling, ‘Get the fuck out of my way!’?” he asked with a gruff laugh. “New York has a distinctive din, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t want to miss out on that.”

The Hear the World Ambassadors exhibit is free and open to the public until May 15 at 413-415 West 14th Street. After the exhibit travels to Berlin and Zurich, the photos will be auctioned off online at www.hear-the-world.com/exhibition, with the net proceeds going to the Hear the World Foundation’s initiatives in developing countries.