Ben Runyan - talking habituation and identity

Ben Runyan (City Rain) joins Frank to talk about habituation, identity, and prevention through his own experience developing tinnitus and his path to recovery. This episode features music by Ben Runyan.

Joey Di Camillo - talking hyperacusis and tinnitus

Joey Di Camillo is perhaps best described as someone who is a natural born musician. At an early age he was around music and had dreamt about being in a rock n roll band since age 9. He discusses his musical journey from the moment he heard the guitar riff that made him realize he knew he wanted to be a rockstar, to the moment he knew being on stage performing for an audience was what he was born to do:

“The stage is my home…it’s how I express myself and tell my story”.

After years of loudness, Joey discovered a difference with his ears that put his musical journey to a halt:

“…I never wore earplugs…all the gigs I’ve played, hours of practice, never wore a shred of hearing protection…I didn’t think it would be a problem”.

Joey opens up about the development and evolution of the music-induced hearing disorders he experiences, and we discuss how isolating and disconnecting it can feel to be a musician who can no longer play music. He also shared how all of this was put into perspective when faced with other serious life events.

Feel free to reach out talkingears@earmarkhc.com to discuss this episode and hearing wellness in general. We look forward to hearing from you!

Rickie Mazzotta - talking drums, whiplash, and tinnitus

Rickie Mazzotta joins us to discuss his career as the drummer and founding member of the Philadelphia-based indie rock band mewithoutYou. As the band embarks on their farewell tour after over 20 years making music together, Rickie generously gave his time to check in about the status of his ears and offer some sage advice to concert goers and young musicians.

Content Warning: this episode contains discussion of mental health and suicide.

Rickie is, by any measure, a loud and energetic drummer, and his approach to the drum set is one of the driving forces behind mewithoutYou’s exciting albums and live shows. In 2019, Rickie experienced what he refers to as “the bomb”. This is when he was first diagnosed with whiplash, which was attributed to his stage movements and the energy he puts into his performances. Did we mention he is an energetic drummer? As it turns out, energy and loudness go hand-in-hand, and his “bomb” was also characterized by onset of debilitating chronic tinnitus, which he described most uniquely:

“Its just like a fairy screaming… a tiny fairy but with this massive weird magical power screaming.”

Coming off tour, he took a full pause on his music career and tried everything to improve his situation and resolve the spiral of tinnitus and anxiety. As it turns out, it was the strategic use of isolating in-ear monitors, awareness of exposure levels, and the careful and intentional return to the stage that did the most good.

Now, Rickie shares his general optimism, and knowledge that he can continue his music career safely while still having the capacity to continue performing with same energy:

“I got a hearing test fairly recently, and its almost line for line the test we did two years ago. So just that alone gives me incredible peace of mind - I can do this thing without further doing more damage to my ears.”

After listening, you can read more of Rickie’s thoughts in our January, 2020 Sound Profiles interview.

Feel free to reach out talkingears@earmarkhc.com to discuss this episode and hearing wellness in general. We look forward to hearing from you. And stay tuned for future episodes, with a hopeful release every couple weeks.

Thanks for listening!

- Frank

Special Thanks

Additionally, I would like to acknowledge everyone who helped with the development of Talking Ears: Scott Hallam, Mary Kim, Juan Vasquez, Brian Heveron-Smith, and Meaghan Strickland - thank you for your time, thoughtful notes, and most of all your patience with me. This wouldn’t be anything without each of you.

Introducing... Talking Ears!

I am excited to announce the start of a new project, a podcast called Talking Ears. In this show, I’ll be interviewing music creators about the often overlooked topic of auditory wellness and hearing healthcare for music industry professionals. Through guests’ stories, candid advice, and their own music, I hope to give context to the role their hearing plays in their lives and careers.

With so many musicians developing career-threatening hearing injuries, and sparse training for aspiring musicians and engineers, I feel an urgency to this discussion. The first episode will be released soon, and features in-depth discussion with Rickie Mazzotta, drummer and founding member the band mewithoutYou. In January, 2020, we featured Rickie in a Sound Profile interview, and he was kind enough to check in and give us an update on his ears and life. Now, he is embarking on mewithoutYou’s farewell tour.

Stay tuned!

- Frank

Ongoing Musicians' Tinnitus and Hearing Supports

Tinnitus and Hearing Supports

We are facing a strange and unsettling situation across all walks of life - this is all too true for the music industry. Many musicians and tour professionals face cancelled tours, postponed sessions, and awkward band conversations. Suddenly, so many of us find ourselves shuttered up at home in quiet rooms, seemingly steeping in the anxiety the news cycle serves. I have heard from many that this is an unhelpful situation for their ongoing tinnitus and hearing concerns. I have heard the request for more support.

Virtual Tinnitus Support Group

We are hosting free virtual meeting groups for musicians and music industry professionals who are experiencing tinnitus and hearing problems, but cannot get out to get the needed support. If interested, please contact us for further details and to sign up for a group.

Televisit Care

We have expanded our Televisit offerings at temporarily discounted rates. Televisits can be tailored to your needs, completed over the phone or video chat, and booked for time slots from 30 to 60 minutes. Even if you're shut in, you don't need to be shut off. If you find that tinnitus or hearing concerns are some of your constants in this uncertain time, I am here to help.

Moving Forward Together

While I cannot address many of the shared anxieties we are all facing, we can work together to alleviate those which are related to your sound, your music, and your ears. If financial considerations are preventing you from reaching out for care, please contact me to discuss alternative arrangements.

Trust we will get through this together,

Frank

Televisit Appointments available for your tinnitus and hearing needs

Here at Earmark, we are not virologists, or epidemiologist, or journalists, or chemists. We are Audiologists. While it seems the world has changed overnight, some things remain constant. You still are a musician. You still have ears. You still have plans and dreams and projects and an audience.

If you find that some of your constants are tinnitus or hearing concerns, I am here to help. While I cannot address many of the shared anxieties we are all facing, we can work together to alleviate those which are related to your sound and your ears.

To address this need, we have expanded our Televisit offerings (telephone or video calls) at greatly discounted rates. Even if you're shut in, you don't need to be shut off. Please reach out!

Sincerely,

Frank Wartinger

What is Tinnitus Music?

Composing the Tinnitus Suites: 2016

8PM @ The Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

The final installment of Daniel Fishkin's vibrant concert series is tonight. Daniel Fishkin, a Philadelphia-based composer and instrument inventor, is exploring the question "What is Tinnitus Music". The answer may be elusive but the process is captivating and exciting.

In 2008, Daniel Fishkin's ears started ringing, and they never stopped. Composing the Tinnitus Suites: 2016 investigates the aesthetics of hearing damage through a performance series in the Sanctuary of the Rotunda, consisting of experimental music concerts and conversations with other thinkers who confront hearing damage in their own practice and personal lives. The series is anchored by the Lady's Harp: a system of 20-foot long piano wires activated by mixer feedback, using guitar pickups and pressure transducers to coax the strings into vibration, not unlike the cilia that transduce vibrations into electrical impulses for the brain. Fishkin says, "To make 'Tinnitus Music' is not just to compose sounds, but also to compose situations that can break the isolation of its experience." 

Listen to samples of Daniel Fishkin's work

Tinnitus and DJing

Tinnitus: A Real Problem For Every DJ

Ean Golden, the man behind the site DJTechTools.com, laid out a personal and practical account of tinnitus and, in a larger sense, what it means to have your career path altered by auditory damage. In the article that could have been titled 'how to avoid destroying your ears while DJing', he wrote about his own tinnitus which came on at the peak of his professional DJing career.

"That fear, and the realization that DJing was making things worse, triggered me to change my lifestyle and significantly reduce noise. In the end that meant adjusting how I DJed, cutting most gigs and limiting set lengths. Having something taken away from you without choice was profoundly depressing and took a while to get over."

Although Ean wrote this article several years ago, it is impressive to see many subsequent articles he published pertaining to practical hearing protection tips.

Tinnitus is not the end

"Fortunately, it was a blessing in disguise. Instead of gigging full time, my focus turned to this site and today, I feel significantly more fulfilled helping others DJ but for many, tinnitus may mean the end of a career completely"

On a personal level, I reflect Ean's sentiment that even the worst outcome can have an upshot. The realization that my persistent tinnitus would significantly damper my budding music career, or at least hinder the enjoyment of that career, lead me to study Audiology. Now I devote the majority of my time to helping others maintain their own music careers - a cathartic and productive twist.

Message of caution

Often I find that after countless hours of wording and rewording hearing conservation messages, someone else has found a way to say the same thing more clearly and realistically than I could. Ean Golden proves this phenomenon again in his closing lines: 

"Your ears can heal themselves of short term damage, but once things are really broken, they are broken for good."

http://djtechtools.com/2012/05/20/tinnitus-a-real-problem-for-every-dj/