Protect Your Ears, Preserve the Music
Sound Advice. Free of Charge.
Key West Songwriters Festival
- When: April 30, May 1, and May 2, 2026
- Time: 10am to 5pm
- Place: Tranquility Room, Southernmost Beach Resort, 1319 Duval St.
- Schedule: Slots are limited across three days. Book your appointment today!
You Came to Hear the Music. Let’s Keep It That Way.
The American Tinnitus Association is at the Key West Songwriters Festival offering free hearing consultations for songwriters, performers, crew, sound technicians, and support staff.
Book your appointment online today to secure a time slot—no waiting, no competing with the show schedule. These informal, one-on-one conversations cover everything from live performance environments and stage monitoring to rehearsal spaces and hearing protection strategies. Custom earmolds and hearing screenings are also available onsite.
Slots are limited across three days. Book your appointment here.
Tune into your hearing health and listening needs with someone who understands both the science of hearing and the art of sound.
Your Music Specialist
Juan Vasquez, AuD—Music Audiologist
Dr. Vasquez is a music audiologist based in Chicago, Illinois. Before entering the field of audiology, he built a career as a performer, educator, and recording artist, working with a variety of ensembles and as a solo musician. He earned his Doctor of Audiology from Pacific University in 2019 and has since gained diverse clinical experience across ENT clinics, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, private practices, research, and hospital settings. Today, his clinical work focuses on hearing loss prevention, with a special emphasis on serving musicians and other music industry professionals.
How Musician Audiologists Can Help
A musician audiologist blends clinical expertise with a performer’s ear, making them uniquely equipped to help you protect, preserve, and optimize your hearing without compromising your sound. They also help manage music-induced hearing conditions, drawing on sound therapy, counseling, and customized hearing strategies.
Here’s why that matters:
- They speak your language. They understand the demands of performing, recording, and mixing, which means their guidance is relevant to your real-world needs.
- Tailored solutions. Whether it’s custom earplugs, in-ear monitors, or managing tinnitus or sound hypersensitivity, they can offer solutions that preserve sound quality, not just reduce volume.
- Empathy and insight. They know how hearing issues can impact your creativity, career, and identity.
- Better communication. You won’t have to explain what frequency balance, stage bleed, or tonal nuance means—they already know.
Signs and Symptoms of Hearing Injury
If you’ve noticed any of the following, a conversation with a music audiologist is a smart next step:
- Tinnitus: The perception of sound—ringing, whooshing, buzzing—without an external source.
- Cochlear synaptopathy (hidden hearing loss): Damage to connections between inner hair cells and auditory nerve fibers, often from noise exposure. Standard hearing tests may not catch it, but it can make speech harder to understand in noisy environments.
- Diplacusis: When the same sound is perceived differently in each ear. For instance, a single note might sound sharp in one ear and flat in the other. It affects pitch perception, tuning, and spatial awareness.
- Dysacusis: When sounds seem distorted, unclear, or uncomfortable, even when overall hearing seems normal. Music or speech might sound off, fuzzy, or wrong.
- Hyperacusis (increased sensitivity to sound): When sounds that are ordinary to most people, such as a snare hit, a mic check, applause, feel painfully loud or uncomfortable.
About American Tinnitus Association
The American Tinnitus Association is the oldest U.S. charity dedicated exclusively to tinnitus. Since 1971, we’ve been the leading voice for tinnitus awareness, prevention, support, and research.
