John Bamford and Richard Seewald attract scientists from all over the world to Brighton - lectures available online
Phonak, the world's leading manufacturer of innovative hearing instrument technology and a pioneer in the field of high-tech solutions for children with hearing loss, hosted the 3rd European Conference on Paediatric Amplification Solutions. On November 24th and 25th 2008 in Brighton, England, more than 230 participants from over 25 countries attended two days of presentations offering both cutting edge research findings and current best practice. Under the theme of "Sound for a young generation", lectures were held by leading professionals such as Richard Seewald, John Bamford and Mary Pat Moeller.
During the two day conference the presenters gave insight into their latest research and clinical experiences including topics such as ways towards optimal amplification for children, plasticity and high-frequency amplification, auditory processing disorders and auditory neuropathy and dys-synchrony. The dinner organised on the pier on the first night of the conference also served as an opportunity to exchange ideas and mingle with the presenters in a relaxed atmosphere.
First conference day with highlight interventions on DSL for infants and ANSD
Following an introduction by internationally renowned researchers John Bamford and Richard Seewald, Harvey Dillon entered the podium for a first presentation on the recent work at the National Acoustic Laboratories of Australia. The speech offered insight into the institute's research on the differences in compression ratios between adults and children. The presentation's highlight was the topic of cortical responses in the evaluation of aided functioning in infants, a tool that helps clinicians verify in infants or multi-disabled children appropriate amplification and demonstrate to sceptical parents the need for hearing aids. His presentation was followed by interventions from Josephine Marriage on fundamental components of hearing aid fitting for infants - stressing the importance of the cross-check principle - and Richard Seewald on DSL for infants, outlining that the DSL-i/o 5.0 will facilitate the application of correction factors to electrophysiological data and calculate Real Ear SPL. The morning sessions were completed by a speech on practical issues in very early fitting by Laura Booth.
In the afternoon, four talks focused on "Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder" (ANSD). Patricia Roush and Kai Uus both reminded of the complexity of this disorder due to the multiple aetiologies, sites of lesion and functional outcomes and underlined the fact that ANSD is proving to be one of the greatest current challenges in the field. Catherine McMahon then spoke on auditory evoked potentials in auditory neuropathy, followed by John Bamford delivering an update on UK guidelines for ANSD on behalf of Graham Sutton who could not attend. The day was closed by Melanie Ferguson introducing findings from a study of auditory processing with a cohort of more than 1600 children, the results suggesting that APD is not a pure sensory problem but also a cognitive issue.
Second conference day offering insight into latest research on high-frequency information and technological opportunities
The morning session on the second day was launched by Nina Kraus from North Western University who spoke on the plasticity of the auditory system which was considered to play a role in the success of auditory training packages for children with literacy and learning disorders. The next three presentations knitted together splendidly, focussing on the importance of high-frequency information for children and the most effective way of providing this appropriately. Mary Pat Moeller covered the difficulties faced by children acquiring speech and language when access to high frequency consonants is reduced. Susan Purdy from Auckland University then presented data from a series of experiments investigating cochlear "dead regions" in children. Dr Marlene Bagatto looked at non-linear frequency compression that has proved to support increased ability of hearing aid users to discriminate between high frequency "s" and "sh" sounds. This has been used by Phonak to further refine their software for the range of aids offering this feature.
The second half of the conference day included speeches on the use of FM in infants by Linda Thibodeau, on the assessment and optimisation of amplification benefits by Mary Hostler and another intervention by Mary Pat Moeller on fostering optimal language outcomes.
The participants agreed with Ora Bürkli-Halevy, Director of Product Management in charge of developing power and paediatric solutions at Phonak, who stated in her closing remarks that two inspiring conference days lay behind the group and that she would take home new insights that will be very helpful in further improving support for children with hearing impairment.
All presentations held at the conference are available for download under PDF and audio format:www.phonak.com/professional/
About Phonak
Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak has developed, produced and globally distributed state-of-the-art hearing systems and wireless devices for more than 50 years. The combination of expertise in hearing technology, mastery in acoustics and strong cooperation with hearing care professionals allows Phonak to significantly improve people's hearing ability and speech understanding and therefore their quality of life.
Phonak offers a complete range of digital hearing instruments, along with complementary wireless communication systems. With a worldwide presence, Phonak drives innovation and sets new industry benchmarks regarding miniaturization and performance.
For more information about Phonak, please visit https://www.phonak.com/ or the Phonak Web Channel on Audiology Online.
