Talking Ears

Dave Hamilton interviewed Frank Wartinger on the Gig Gab Podcast

"This week on Gig Gab, dive deep into the world of hearing health with Frank Wartinger, a renowned music audiologist and podcaster! Wartinger emphasizes the importance of protecting your ears, especially for musicians and avid music fans... Wartinger and Hamilton remind listeners that in the world of music, it’s crucial to “Always Be Performing,” but that also means taking care of your health, especially your hearing, to ensure longevity in your career."

Juan and Frank - talking MusiCares, Tuned, and accessible hearing health services

If you are in the music industry, you are likely eligible for a no-cost hearing wellness consultation paid for by MusiCares, the non-profit arm of the recording academy.
I'm this episode, Juan and Frank explain the details and discuss aspects of the recent video panel of audiologists, but please go to Tunedcare.com to check your eligibility and schedule your visit. Applicants must be able to document employment history in one of the following areas 1) Five years employment in the music industry, or 2) Six commercially released recordings and/or videos. 
The benefit includes: 1) Virtual consultation with a specialized music audiologist, 2) A pair of Etymotic ER20XS Universal filtered earplugs, and 3) Access to Hearing Aids (when audiologically indicated). As the panelists put it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

EmmoLei Sankofa - talking film scoring, storytelling, and silence

EmmoLei Sankofa is prolific and busy, but she was kind enough to take the time to chat with Talking Ears! In this episode, the composer of some of your favorite soundtracks (recent credits including Three Ways, Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, Step Up Season 3, The Other Black Girl, and Project CC) shares her thoughts on storytelling through sound and collaborating with filmmakers. We first met through MusiCares and the tele-audiology platform at tunedcare.com, and this fantastic program is discussed at length in the episode. Also, listen close to catch all the references to morse code and how is informs some of her compositions. 
Music heard in this episode is from her soundtrack releases, as well as her critically acclaimed 2019 album, Geometry. 
Speaking of being busy, you can hear EmmoLei take on the role of guest host of The Disney Hits Sirus XM show on the date of this release.

Brendan Fitzgerald - talking creativity, community, and musical aesthetics

While it is true that Brendan Fitzgerald is a fellow audiologist and is on the University of Buffalo clinical faculty, we spend almost our entire hour together discussing his work as the director of the contemporary music ensemble Wooden Cities. We ask Brendan to elaborate on what it means to have intention in live performances, how community and the people involved influence the outcome, and what constitutes musical aesthetics. Maybe next time we'll get into music audiology and hearing loss prevention for performers, but for now, we enjoy his beautiful and oftentimes challenging music.
In this episode we'll hear music by Brendan Fitzgerald, Wooden Cities, and improvisational duo FFFFaultyTower.

Danielle DePalma - talking live sound, concert management, and representation

Danielle DePalma is a world-class mixing engineer, the production manager of the legendary Bowery Ballroom in NYC, and a dear friend. She's toured with, recorded, mixed, and produced concerts for practically everyone you can name so it was tough to pick only a few, but in this episode we focus on the music of past and current collaborators Mercy Bell, Sharon Van Etten, Hailey Wojcik, Field Mouse, Christina Picciano, and Emily King. Danielle also pens eye-opening articles on concert management and production on SoundGirls.org, and we get into the important conversation of representation in the music industry. Her attitude toward prioritizing personal well-being extends beyond herself and benefits the artists she works well and the concert-goers who have the good fortune of experiencing one of her productions. You can read more about Danielle and her time at Purchase College (which we somehow didn't touch on in our brief interview) in Women in Sound, written by Madeleine Campbell.

Wayne Tucker - talking trumpet, songwriting, and listening

Wayne Tucker is a trumpet player, singer, songwriter, composer, and soon to be author. He has shared the stage with household names such Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo and David Crosby, and jazz artists like Al Foster, Cyrille Aimee, and Kurt Elling. Since 2016, he's been releasing albums of his own compositions and songs. Wayne is also a founding member of Brass Against, a unique group which reimagines the music of Rage Against the Machine (and other artists) with a huge horn section and energetic stage show. In this interview, we hear music from his most recent EP, "I'll Never Stop", as well as his many records and collaborations.

Matt Bell - talking education programs for music audiology

Dr. Matt Bell is an audiologist who has written and taught extensively on the subject of 'Audiologic Management of Musicians'. He has inspired countless audiology graduate students, and many of his students have gone on to do great work in the field of music audiology... we're looking at you, Juan Vasquez, co-producer of Talking Ears! 
Juan takes the host chair for this episode to interview Dr. Bell, his mentor and arguably the reason he is an Audiologist today. Music in this episode features Matt Bell in various bands including Raindriver and The Feel.

Talking Ears won the 2023 NHCA Media Award!

Good news! Talking Ears won the 2023 NHCA Media Award. This is an incredibly meaningful award for Frank and Juan as we consider the National Hearing Conservation Association our primary professional organization as hearing conservationists and music audiologists. 
The NHCA Media Award was established in 1993 to recognize the efforts of creators who serve to heighten public awareness of the hazards of noise and who take the time and effort to bring hearing conservation related issues into public light. Past winners include John Eichwald (CDC Noise Induced Hearing Loss Workgroup), Kevin O'Connor (Ask This Old House), Gordon Hempton (The Sound Tracker), Cara Buckley (The New York Times), and Brian Fligor, just to name a few. NHCA's mission is to prevent hearing loss and other auditory disorders due to noise and secondary environmental factors in all sectors of society, and we are enthused by the increased awareness and attention being aimed at the hearing healthcare of music and entertainment industry professionals.