NAERUM, DK August 29 -- On September 1, the Ida Institute celebrates its 10th anniversary. Since 2007, the Denmark-based non-profit has worked with hearing care professionals worldwide to enhance the quality of hearing care, specializing in the development of methods and counseling tools based on person-centered care.
“Our work to promote and enable hearing care professionals to deliver person-centered care is more relevant than ever,” says Lise Lotte Bundesen, founder and Managing Director of the Ida Institute. “Despite the sophisticated technology that is available today, the uptake and acceptance of hearing technology is still lacking. This is a problem both for individuals with hearing loss and for society as a whole. We believe the only way forward is to find ways to motivate and engage people in their own treatment, and this is essentially what the Ida Institute is about.”
Over the past 10 years, the institute has built a community of 12,000 members and has developed a large portfolio of counseling tools and resources addressing various issues from client motivation and engagement and adult and pediatric rehabilitation to more specific issues such as tinnitus and balance disorders. More recently, the institute developed a telehealth platform allowing professionals to extend their services beyond the appointment.
A collaborative approach
Collaboration and innovation are central to the Ida Institute’s approach. All resources and tools created by the institute are the outcome of creative and collaborative innovation processes in which academics, hearing care professionals and other experts come together to identify problems and develop concrete, easy-to-use tools and resources in response.
“We like to say that our tools and resources are created for audiologists, by audiologists,” explains Lise Lotte Bundesen. “I believe this inclusive approach to development is part of the reason why our network has grown the way it has. It is also our way of making sure that the tools and resources that we offer are solidly anchored in the daily realities and work of hearing care professionals.”
Making a difference
Today, the Ida Institute has become a reference for person-centered care with a diverse global community and a rich collection of tools, ethnographic videos and other freely available online resources.
The institute also recently set up a new learning and discussion online space, the Ida Learning Hall, which allows hearing care professionals to upgrade their counseling skills and apply
person-centered care in their practice. Based on mobile-friendly technology, bite-sized content and user interaction inspired by social media, the Learning Hall enables users to learn about person-centered care in an easy, engaging way – when and where it suits them.
“None of this would have been possible without the contribution of our community and many dedicated collaborators around the world. I’m proud of this joint accomplishment and of the difference that we, as a community, continue to make for people with hearing loss around the world.”
All Ida tools and resources are freely available from idainstitute.com. For more information about Ida Institute milestones, see our anniversary memory book.
Follow the Ida Institute on Twitter at @idainstitute, facebook.com/idainstitute or linkedin.com/company/ida-institute
