Foxy Brown In A Deaf Jam

Foxy Brown is speaking out publicly about her hearing loss.

At a news conference in New York yesterday the rapper got emotional as she described her experience with a condition known as Severe Sudden Hearing Loss which can be triggered by a viral infection.

Flanked by her doctor, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, his wife, model Kimora Lee Simmons, hip-hop vet Doug E. Fresh, and model Tyson Beckford, Foxy said she had not heard the sound of another person's voice in more than six months and that she has spent "many confusing, agonizing nights crying in isolation and silence."

The rapper said she was hit with the setback while recording her album "Black Roses" back in May. Since then she has been communicating with others through handwritten notes and e-mails. Her doctor, Laura Arias, says Foxy will undergo surgery next month to reverse the hearing loss.

Arias says Brown is a "strong candidate for restoration" and is confident that she will hear again.