CAN is a global network dedicated to advancing hearing healthcare through the application of data science, computational methods, and artificial intelligence (AI) in hearing loss research and technology.
The mission of CAN is to bring together academics, clinicians, industry partners, policymakers, and patients to foster
innovation, promote accessible hearing healthcare solutions, and improve the quality of life for individuals with hearing loss.
Full, Life and Honorary members
in good standing of the ISA were asked to put forth nominations for the following positions by no later than 4 July 2024.
· The President Elect
· A Representative of the Affiliated Societies
·
Three Members-at-Large for the
three ISA regions:
o Africa/Middle East and Europe
o North America and South America
o Asia and Western Pacific
Professional Background:
Ph.D., Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Cincinnati, USA, 1990 (minor Environmental Health) M.S., Communication Disorders, Pontifícia Universidade, Católica de São Paulo, Brazil, 1986, B.A., Speech Pathology & Audiology, Pontifícia Universidade, Católica de São Paulo, Brazil, 1982.
Past ISA activity:
Thais served as the ISA Affiliate Representative for two terms. During these terms, despite COVID, the ISA board was able to implement several actions to update its image, online presence and processes. With other board members Thais contributed to start a series of open access, free webinars on themes relevant to our global community. She involved some of the Affiliate Societies in co-hosting a few of the webinars. She has mentored other volunteers in different subgroups. Thais started the transition of the Global Audiology resource onto a new platform and continue to work on it as a volunteer after the conclusion of her term.
Past activity Presence at World Congress of Audiology meetings:
Presenter at several ISA conferences (2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022-remotely). Keynote Speaker in 2010; Invited Round Table Chair and Lecturer in 2014 and 2016. She is eager to attend and present at the 2024 WCA.
Contribution to hearing science/healthcare:
Thais has published and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad. She is recognized as a mentor and collaborator with researchers across the globe, and recipient of several awards. Her pioneering research on noise and health has contributed to international occupational safety and health policies. She is currently devoting time to improving the communication of science to the public through new media and promoting the adoption of evidence-based health practices. Click here to read more.
Expected ISA contribution if elected to the board:
ISA is unique in its recognition of the importance of multiple perspectives and domains of knowledge to supports its members in their efforts to deliver and improve hearing care. Following up on work started during my terms as Representative of the Affiliated Societies and later as a volunteer contributor, I aim to continue to modernize platforms and mechanisms to facilitate meaningful interactions of interested people on a regional, national, or international level, and expedite progress in the improvement and expansion of hearing care services. Through the modernization of the existing platforms she expects ISA to be able to capture input that reflects public views related to the practice of audiology as well as the latest information from the scientific expertise of its members.
Katrin Neumann
M.D., specialized in ENT and in Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology.
Presentations at WCAs in Innsbruck 2006, Sao Paulo 2010, Cape Town 2018, Paris 2024; data collection for the survey on the global status of newborn and infant hearing screening (Neumann, …Chadha et al. 2020, 2021, 2022) supported by ISA.
KN is audiological advisor in the Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Loss Programme and in the Rehabilitation Programme of the WHO and represent the German Society of Audiology, the German Society of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology, the Union of European Phoniatricians (UEP), and the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) in the World Hearing Forum (WHF) of the WHO.
She belongs to the External Relations Working Group of the WHF. She contributed to several WHO publications, among others to the World Report on Hearing (2021), Hearing screening - considerations for implementation (2021) Childhood hearing loss: strategies for prevention and care (2016), Planning & monitoring of national strategies: a manual (2016), Ear and hearing care: situation analysis tool (2016), Neonatal and Infant Hearing Screening. Current Issues and Guiding Principles for Action (2010).
Together with her team, she has implemented a Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) in the State of Hesse, which was the model project in Germany (Neumann et al. 2006, 2009, Boettcher et al. 2009) and published, among others, by the WHO (2010) and which was the national basis for the implementation of a UNHS in Germany. For the latter she worked 8 years for Germany’s Federal Joint Committee as the person responsible for children's hearing and speech, which developed and published the legal regulations for the national UNHS program and monitors it by regular evaluations.
She chairs the Association of German Hearing Screening Centers since its foundation in 2009. As volunteering for the WHO KN was often involved in the WHO work on Newborn Hearing Screening (NHS). Over several years she has collected the worldwide NHS data of 158 countries and published them together with Shelly Chadha from the WHO and with many international authors; Neumann et al. 2019, 2020, 2022). She helped to implement NHS in China, the Philippines, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and were or am advisor in other countries such as Chile, Georgia, and Uzbekistan. At current, she works on the UNHS- implementation in Indonesia.
KN coordinates or has coordinated several research projects, among the latter one on implementation of a universal hearing screening, diagnostics, treatment, and monitoring program for people with intellectual disabilities and one on the potential implementation of a neonatal CMV-screening in Germany and Qatar.
Secretary-General or the President Elect (if I am considered worthy and qualified).
Of course, I would be willing to attend the six-weekly EB meetings, answer emails immediately and work with the other EB members, committees, and working groups in a trusting and fruitful manner. I would also be involved in the coordination and organization of the next World Congress(es) of Audiology. I would be committed to an international and interdisciplinary exchange and to opening up the topic of ear and hearing health to external groups of people.
Furthermore, I can imagine helping to shape and innovatively promote ISA activities in the following areas:
1. Implementation of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) programs and the corresponding tracking and data collection structures, including the establishment and promotion of pediatric audiological follow-up and service structures, as called for in the 2017 WHO Resolution on Ear and Hearing Care. This seems important to me in view of the fact that the WHO has defined the increase in the implementation of such UNHS programs as one of the three tracer indicators of countries' progress in Ear and Hearing Care.
2. I would advocate—in collaboration with the working group CAN-SIG—the greater implementation of telemedical structures (teleaudiometry, telefitting, telemonitoring of treatments, and telerehabilitation), as this is in line with the increasing need for networking and digitalization. I coordinate several respective research projects.
3. I would utilize my many international contacts from newborn hearing screening to stimulate further epidemiological large- scale data collection, e.g., on the prevalence of hearing disorders according to age, kind, side, and grade of hearing loss. This would meet the need for a new prevalence determination according to the new WHO classification of grades of hearing loss. Collaboration with the Global Audiology working group seems essential for this topic.
4. I want to promote the provision of hearing technology for older people with hearing loss, help overcome barriers to it, and involve those affected in hearing and communication training and rehabilitation programs. I consider the activities of the Hearing in Later Life Working Group an excellent prerequisite for advancing this topic.
5. I would strive for equity in the availability of hearing technology for people with hearing impairment, in line with the 2017 WHO resolution and the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage, e.g. by motivating health ministries or
organizations to make bulk purchases.
6. I would try to advance other topics relevant to population medicine. These include the implementation of universal hearing screening, diagnostics, treatment, and monitoring programs for people with intellectual disabilities, a population group with more than 40% prevalence of hearing loss.
Click here to listen to the recording of the hybrid side-event “Advancing Ear & Hearing Care for All: Towards a New WHA Resolution” held on 28th May 2024 during the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Click here to download the supporting document which is a summary of the side-event.
Professor
Margarida Serrano from Portugal was the winner of the ISA membership and WCA competition. All full members of the ISA in good standing on 30 April 2024 were entered into the draw.
ISA members that had already registered and paid to attend the World Congress of Audiology which takes place in Paris, France during September 2024 received one additional entry into the draw.
It is the goal of the International Society of Audiology (ISA) to encourage participation from future student leaders in Global Audiology. Therefore, the ISA is glad to offer student scholarships to allow these student leaders to attend the World Congress of Audiology (WCA) to share their research findings, to meet and network with fellow students and senior colleagues as well as to be actively engaged in furthering research and services in audiology locally and internationally.
The scholarships, in the amount of USD $1500 are sponsored by the ISA.
The scholarship is intended to help students to cover the costs of:
• Student registration fees for the WCA (all scholars must register for the Congress.)
• Transportation/airfare to the Congress venue.
• Accommodation
during the Congress.
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
1. The applicant must be a full time student in an institution of higher learning taking courses in audiology and preferably working towards a degree in audiology or hearing science. Graduates who will be completing their degree in 2024 may also apply; and
2. The applicant must be a current Student Member of the ISA.
3. The applicant should have the paper accepted by the organizers of the WCA. Only one paper should be submitted for consideration.
4. The applicant will provide a brief profile (a photo, name, a brief bio about him/herself and the current research project).
5. The applicant must represent his/her own work which should not have been presented or published elsewhere.
The student must submit the following documents by the application closing date:
1. The application form duly filled.
2. A brief profile (a photo, name, a brief bio about him/herself and the current research project).
3.
An
abstract and a 2 to 3 page description of the research project the applicant
wants to submit for inclusion in the WCA Scientific Program. (A description
exceeding 3 pages will disqualify the applicant. The description should be
presented in Times Roman size 12 font on an A4/letter size paper with 1- inch
margins.)
The research topic may be either in the field of clinical audiology or in basic
audiological science. The description should clearly outline:
a. The challenge/problem being addressed by the project;
b. The hypotheses and/or aim of the project;
c. The methodology that was employed;
d. The results that have been/will be obtained; and
e. The discussion surrounding the results
f. The conclusions drawn from the project, and its significance to audiology.
4. A letter of recommendation from the research supervisor/advisor.
5. A short (maximum 100 words) statement of why the applicant believes the scientific paper would be valuable to attend the WCA.
6. A proof that the paper has been accepted for publication by the Scientific Committee of the WCA, as soon as it becomes available.
All supplementary information (2. – 5.) should be included in one pdf-file.
1. The selected scholars will sign a letter of acceptance and be abide by the conditions stated in the letter.
2. The scholars will personally present the accepted paper at the WCA
3. The scholars will only be able to receive the scholarship after presenting their papers at the Congress. The scholars will sign a receipt.
4. The scholars are expected to be actively engaged in furthering audiological research and services locally and internationally.
5. ISA scholars are expected to have provided true information and complied to human ethics requirement of their respective institution and/or country. Failure to comply to these requirements will result in the scholarship being revoked and the scholar is expected to repay ISA the full amount of the scholarship. ISA will not be liable for implications due to untruthful representation of the research.
6. The awardees should be present at the ISA General Assembly at the WCA to receive the award.
Step 1
Download the Application Form - Click on the navigation below to download the application form.
Step 2
Send the completed application form and supporting documentation before Sunday 30 April 2024 (one pdf-file containing the information) by e-mail to gd@isa-audiology.org with a copy to sc.purdy@auckland.ac.nz
If you are not yet a student member of the ISA - Click here to become a member. Membership is free.
Contact George Dempster the ISA Community Manager by e-mail - gd@isa-audiology.org should you require clarification or assistance.
At its biennial World Congress, the International Society of Audiology (ISA) presents the Aram Glorig award to recognize a person who has had a “distinguished career in Audiology.”
The Glorig Foundation was established at the International Congress of Audiology (ICA) in Helsinki in 1982. It was the idea of ISA’s late president Ole Bentzen (Denmark) to do something to honour Dr. Glorig’s many years of service to the ISA as one of its founders and the audiology profession.
The ISA executive committee would like to acknowledge and celebrate Professor Linda J. Hood Ph.D as the 2024 Aram Glorig awardee. Professor Hood is an exemplary audiologist and hearing scientist having made significant contributions to both basic and translational research for over 40 years. Her research in the areas of hereditary hearing loss, novel assays of afferent and efferent neural function, and the clinical diagnosis and management of auditory neuropathy/auditory synaptopathy have had a lasting and meaningful impact on the profession of audiology.
As an International Key Scientist, she has worked with numerous research centres and universities, has more than 50 peer reviewed articles, lectures globally, consults to the World Health Organization, participates in review panels, working groups and editorial boards.
Among other awards, she received the Honours of the Association from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2018 and the Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology from the American Academy of Audiology in April 2020.
Professor Hood is a Past President of the American Academy of Audiology, the American Auditory Society, and our very own Society between the years 2014 to 2016 and a member of the executive team from 2010 to 2022.
From left to right, Astrid, Ariane, Kurt, Louise, Adrian
From left to rightAdrian, Louise, Hung (WCA), Dewet (IJA) Ariane, Astrid
Hung and Louise signing the WCA agreement.
ISA representative
Bernadette Fulton attended the 3rd Global Rehabilitation 2030 meeting.
Bernadette, Kurt Stephan (ISA exco member) and Kathy Pichora-Fuller attended the World
Rehabilitation Alliance members meeting.
Congratulations to Silvia Dibonaventura from London and Vasco de Olivier from Portugal for being the first respondents to our grant offer. We look forward to seeing you at the Congress.
ISA in support of World Hearing Day 2023
Thais C. Morata, Ariane Laplante-Lévesque, Kurt Stephan, George Tavartkiladze, Dalia Tsimpida
Since 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) organizes World Hearing Day on 3 March “to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.” The International Society of Audiology (ISA) has contributed in various ways over the years. On November 16–17, several of us, ISA Executive Council members and committee volunteers participated of the in-person Core Committee meeting of the World Hearing Forum (https://www.who.int/activities/promoting-world-hearing-forum), at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva, to review progress and coordinate joint outreach activities for hearing care and hearing loss prevention.
When raising awareness of health issues, Wikimedia platforms come to mind as a valuable source of dissemination of information, since health-related articles on Wikipedia are read more than 150 million times per month (Heilman et al., 2011). Health information in Wikipedia can be a significant and trusted resource particularly in countries where access to care is scarce (Shafee et al., 2017; NYT, 2014). A recent example is a project led by Dr. Lilian Jacob and funded by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) in 2022, where five Brazilian universities as well as international agencies incorporated Wikipedia assignments focused on the promotion of hearing health.
For World Hearing Day 2019, the ISA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health took the lead in designing the online event Wiki4WorldHearingDay2019, to improve Wikipedia content related to hearing, hearing health services, hearing testing, and preventive and treatment interventions. Several institutions joined in the event by either promoting it or contributing content to Wikipedia articles in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. The Wikimedia outreach dashboard allows anyone to monitor contributions and reach, with a great level of detail and accuracy. Tracking took place between January 21, 2019 and March 31, 2019 and showed that 74,000 words were contributed to 90 existing and 7 new Wikipedia articles, and 21 images were donated to the open access repository WikiCommons. The articles received more than 2.8 million views during the 2- month period of the tracking (Morata and Chadha, 2019).
Given the success of Wiki4WorldHearingDay2019, two other campaigns followed: Wiki4YearOfSound2020 and now Wiki4WorldHearingDay2023. In these platforms, one may find guidance and suggestions for different levels of involvement in the campaigns. The launch of the 2023 World Hearing Day campaign took place at the office of the World Health Organization in Geneva on November 18, with presentations from Thais Morata (User:Tmorata) and Daniel Mietchen (User:Daniel Mietchen). Several ISA members expressed interest in participating. Others who were also interested in expanding content into Wikipedia were from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, England, Georgia, Greece, India, Italy, Uganda, Russia, and Zambia. Tracking of the contributions has started and will continue till the end of March 2023 at https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/World_Health_Organization/Outreach_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_4_World_Hearing_Day_2023. Thais Morata and Shelly Chadha (Lead Officer, WHO Program for Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Loss) will officially close the Wikipedia online in March 2023 at the Encontro Internacional de Audiologia, which will take place in Florianopolis, Brazil.
The theme of World Hearing Day 2023 is Ear and hearing care for all! Let’s make it a reality and participants are invited to contribute content not only specific to hearing health but also to topics of universality and equity in health care. We invite the ISA community to join in the campaign! Small contributions count! Many other ways to participate also exist. Activities are then described in the annual report of World Hearing Day activities.
The breadth and accuracy of Wikipedia coverage in medical science varies widely. We see campaigns like this as unique opportunities to make hearing content one of the better-developed areas within Wikipedia while providing quality information to everyone in the world- where they are actually looking for it.
If you have any questions please contact Thais Morata, PhD, at tmorata@cdc.gov.
References
Heilman JM, Kemmann E, Bonert M, et al. Wikipedia: a key tool for global public health promotion. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13(1):e14. Published 2011 Jan 31. doi:10.2196/jmir.1589
New York Times, 2014. Wikipedia is emerging as trusted internet source for information on Ebola. October 26, 2014. Accessed April 4, 2019.
Morata, TC., Chadha, S. Make Quality Hearing Health Information Available to All. The Hearing Journal: May 2019 - Volume 72 - Issue 5 -p 6. doi: https://10.1097/01.HJ.0000559493.29061.35
Shafee T, Masukume G, Kipersztok L, et al. Evolution of Wikipedia’s medical content: past, present and future. J Epidemiol Community Health 2017;71:1122–1129.
Professor Louise Hickson, who is recognised internationally as a leader in audiology, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to tertiary education and audiology associations.
Professor Hickson is Associate Dean (External Engagement) for the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, and has completed ground-breaking work on the effects of hearing impairment on people’s everyday lives, and strategies and interventions to help improve the uptake of hearing rehabilitation.
“I feel incredibly honoured to receive this award,” Professor Hickson said.
“Hearing loss affects one in six people and the consequences of untreated hearing loss are severe, affecting people’s ability to communicate and connect with those around them.
“My work with so many audiology associations has been about advocating for the needs of people with hearing loss and working with them to alleviate the impacts of the condition.”
Professor Hickson was also recently appointed as the new President of the International Society of Audiology.
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