Hard of Hearing Musicians Conference

Posted by Julie, Volunteer Mentor @julieo4, Jul 4, 2022

This opportunity, sponsored by the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss, may be of interest to those who have expressed interest and concerns about enjoying music.

https://www.musicianswithhearingloss.org/wp/2022-miniconference-schedule/

The Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss cordially invites interested musicians with hearing loss to our upcoming virtual conference titled, "Variations on a Theme" on July 16 and 17. This event will focus on the challenges of making aural music with hearing devices such as hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Workshops will be held on one of these three tracks: Conservation, Transformation and Recognition.

Presenters include deaf and hard of musicians Rick Ledbetter and Abigel Szilagyi, deaf composers Tyler Mazone and Jay Alan Zimmerman and audiologists Dr. Heather Malyuk, Dr. Marshall Chasin, Dr. Brad Ingrao and Dr. Mead Killion,, We are also pleased to introduce deaf psychologist Dr. Deborah McCaw, who will speak on adjustment to hearing loss as musicians. Dr. Kris Chesky from the University of North Texas will discuss their hearing conservation program for undergraduate students and Dr. Michael Vitalino will look at how to teach aural skills to undergraduate music students with hearing loss.

Real-time captioning wlll be provided for this event.

A schedule-at-a-glance and conference registration is now available.. Registration is $20 per person per ticket and includes access to presentation recordings for 7 days after the conference. There will be no refunds once the conference starts on July 16. Note: Please use the email address you use to login to Zoom to register for this event.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Hearing Loss Support Group.

Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jul 4, 2022

Wow, that sounds so interesting Julie. I would recommend it to 2 musician friends with hearing loss, but they will be performing at a Bluegrass Festival in Michigan at that time! They are part of a larger group of older musicians, nearly all with moderate to severe hearing loss, who play together near our winter home.
Sue

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jul 4, 2022

Thanks, Julie. I'm tagging @audioman @jt01 @mark888 and @earlyaudio to make sure they see this.

Len Allman | @newhorizons | Jul 22, 2022

How can a performing musician w/hearing loss pick out an appropriate hearing aid?

nottmkid | @nottmkid | Jul 23, 2022

In reply to @newhorizons "How can a performing musician w/hearing loss pick out an appropriate hearing aid?" + (show)

Good day and happy weekend Len,

Might I suggest you start here, Widex.
The reason for the suggestion is that these folks get it, they have designed hearing aids with the shortest latency time knowing that comb filtering is a problem for players and listeners of music. Also, not sure if you know Michael Fremer, very well know reviewer, audiophile and vinyl nut case. He wrote a piece about the Widex hearing aids which is a good read.
Hope this helps you on your path.
Chris

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Jul 23, 2022

In reply to @sueinmn "Wow, that sounds so interesting Julie. I would recommend it to 2 musician friends with hearing..." + (show)

They may want to connect with the association that is sponsoring the conference when they have time. Not sure, but I think this is an annual event.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Jul 23, 2022

In reply to @colleenyoung "Thanks, Julie. I'm tagging @audioman @jt01 @mark888 and @earlyaudio to make sure they see this." + (show)

Thank you. I think this is a bigger issue than people realize. There used to be an organization called "Hearing Education Awareness for Rockers" that included some rather famous rock stars who had hearing loss due to music volume. (Very common) They were promoting hearing protection. I checked their website and the last posting was in 2013, so it looks like they are no longer in existence.

Loud music is a huge causative factor in hearing loss. Anyone who is exposed this way should spend the time and money to buy effective musician's ear plugs. They have to be fitted by an audiology professional as they need to be custom fit.

Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jul 24, 2022

In reply to @julieo4 "Thank you. I think this is a bigger issue than people realize. There used to be..." + (show)

Now, Julie, how do we get our son-in-law to protect his own hearing like he does with his little boys?
Our friends who are full-time musicians have worn theirs for many years - they tell me they need to be replaced every year or two, and new molds need to be made from time to time as well.
Sue

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Jul 24, 2022

Hard to know how to motivate someone to protect their hearing from noisy situations. I got my granddaughter's attention by telling them they did not want to be like me in this way. They both played & sang in rock bands in high school. Their musician's ear plugs were professionally fit and were basically ear molds made for exact fit. They are no longer in bands, but both still have those ear plugs and promise to use them at concerts they attend. I have no control over that, but hope they do!

No one understands the complexity of hearing loss until they have to live with it themselves, thus it's hard to motivate them to use hearing protection. Good luck with your son in law. Good to know he's protecting his kids hearing.

Is he a musician himself?