(Warrenville, IL) – November 4, 2015 – Phonak has invited a select group of hearing healthcare experts to provide evidence-based recommendations to hearing care providers on how to better engage family members.
“Hearing health impacts everyone involved in the life of someone challenged with hearing issues, especially family and loved ones. However, we know from research that a low percentage of significant others are actually involved in the hearing healthcare process,” explained Prof. Hickson, panel chairperson and Professor of Audiology and Head of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. “We also know that hearing outcomes are far better when families are involved, positively impacting overall patient satisfaction.”
The panel is working to identify evidence-based recommendations that are easy to implement in daily practice. The first deliverable will be a position statement to be published in early 2016.
“Phonak is very excited to sponsor and support this initiative to help increase practice effectiveness,” said Ora Buerkli-Halevy, Vice President, Global Audiology, Phonak AG. “The objective is to facilitate family involvement throughout the process. This initiative is based on scientific evidence showing that involving the family results in increased uptake of hearing healthcare and better outcomes.”
In addition to Prof. Hickson, the first meeting of the expert panel also included Kris English, PhD, Professor at the University of Akron/NOAC, Akron, Ohio; Mary Beth Jennings, PhD, Associate Professor of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada; Gurjit Singh, PhD, Senior Research Audiologist, Phonak AG and Barbra Timmer, MACAud, MAudSA, MBA, Research Audiologist and PhD Candidate, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Other experts will also be contributing moving forward and will collaborate on the position statement.
From left: Bill Dickinson, Kris English, Barbra Timmer, Louise Hickson, Mary Beth Jennings, Elizabeth Thompson, Ora Buerkli-Halevy, Gurjit Singh.
About Phonak
Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak, a member of the Sonova Group, has developed, produced and globally distributed state-of-the-art hearing systems and wireless devices for more than 60 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. To learn more about Phonak, please visit www.phonak.com or the Phonak Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.
