Phonak sponsors the 2nd International Conference 'A Sound Foundation Through Early Amplification' Chicago, USA 8th - 10th November 2001.
Following the overwhelming success of the 1st international pediatric conference, Phonak is now proud to present the 2nd international conference 'A Sound Foundation Through Early Amplification'.
The conference steering committee is chaired by Richard Seewald, Ph.D. (Canada) and includes John Bamford, Ph.D. (UK), Judith Gravel, Ph.D. (USA) and Patricia Stelmachowicz, Ph.D. (USA). The committee has selected speakers from among the world's most distinguished pediatric audiological experts and have ensured an interesting mix of subject matter and professional expertise.
Recent developments in pediatric audiology provide for the accurate detection of hearing impairment in infancy. This and the move towards Universal Newborn Hearing Screening means there are now a greater number of infants and families requiring effective early intervention programs. 'A Sound Foundation Through Early Amplification' comes at a time when knowledge about intervention strategies for infants is still scarce. While procedures exist for the early identification of hearing loss, there is little published material to guide clinicians who provide intervention and habilitation services. Provision of amplification for infants offers unique challenges and parents are faced with an array of options in technology and communication methods which affect the future of their child. Professionals need the knowledge to help them make the right decision for the child and for the family. This important conference will be the ideal forum to help professionals obtain up-to-date information together with clear, practical and procedural guidelines. 'Our Steering Committee has developed an exceptional program by all international standards' says Dr. Richard Seewald, Conference Chair. 'With this conference, we are bringing together some to the very best scientists and clinicians from throughout the world to discuss current developments and issues in pediatric habilitative audiology'.
The program is divided into five main subject areas with varied presentations in each session: Auditory Development, Audiologic Assessment, Hearing Instrument Fitting and Verification, General Management and Candidacy Issues.
The first session on auditory development is moderated by Richard Seewald, Ph.D.(Canada). This promises to be an interesting session with the Conference Keynote Address on development of the auditory system given by Robert Harrison Ph.D. (Canada). In addition, the session includes presentations on binaural audition and developmental psychoacoustics. The second session moderated by Judith Gravel Ph.D. (USA), will examine the current developments and issues in audiologic assessment. Potential pitfalls in audiologic assessment will be discussed in addition to presentations on electrophysiological measures, cross-modality matching and human auditory steady-state responses.
The third session on pediatric hearing instrument fitting will offer practical protocols for fitting infants and digital signal processing strategies for children with severe-to-profound loss. Electroacoustic verification with high-tech hearing instruments and fitting validation measures provide the subject material for session four. In addition there will be two special sessions which cover high-frequency amplification for children and candidacy issues for hearing instruments and cochlear implants. The final session on service delivery focuses on management issues and family friendly audiological service provision. The Conference Endnote Address will be given by Agnete Parving, M.D. (Denmark).
During the conference a separate session is planned to view the submitted posters. Researchers from throughout the world will be presenting their findings relating to the key subject areas presented at the conference. In addition, directly after the conference, there will be four workshops on behavioral assessment, hearing instrument verification, real-ear verification of FM systems and measuring auditory brainstem responses. The workshops will be given by international experts in each area.
'The first conference was a tremendous success and the published Proceedings is proving even more popular than we had ever expected' explains Ora Buekli-Halevy, International Coordinator. 'The second conference promises to be as exiting and we will once again publish the proceedings so that people who are unable to attend the conference can still benefit from the information presented at this conference.'
Full program information and registration details are available on www.phonak.com. Registration should be made soon in order to ensure enrolment.
For more information on Phonak click here.
Click here to visit the Phonak website.
