The Ida Institute recently held a workshop bringing together people with hearing loss, hearing care professionals, and representatives of patient organizations, the nonprofit organization announced.

The workshop, “Partners in Hearing: Learning Together,” aimed to develop new ideas and concepts to support people with hearing loss on their hearing journey.

The workshop is part of the Ida Institute’s continuing work to develop tangible and easy-to-use tools for hearing care professionals and people with hearing loss. Organized in collaboration with Action on Hearing Loss, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), and The Ear Foundation, it provided a unique opportunity to gather different perspectives and bring the knowledge and expertise of various stakeholders into the development of new concepts and resources.

“We consider professionals and patients as equal partners in hearing rehabilitation,” said Lise Lotte Bundesen, managing director of the Ida Institute. “Bringing these stakeholders together is conducive to the innovation process and a way for us to ensure that the solutions we develop are relevant and can be implemented in practice.”

Over the course of two days, participants worked in groups to generate ideas for different tools that could support people with hearing loss in different aspects of their lives. The groups explored a number of themes including:

  • Empowerment: How to ensure that people with hearing loss have the support they need to advocate for themselves;
  • Peer-to-Peer Support: New ideas for how people with hearing loss can connect and share knowledge and experiences;
  • Family and Friends: How to address communication issues related to hearing loss together;
  • Journey Planning: How to improve the hearing journey,
  • Workplace: How to make the workplace more accommodating and empower people with hearing loss at work.

The workshop led to a number of concrete ideas and concepts which will be further refined in the coming months.

To stay updated on the outcomes of the workshop and other Ida initiatives follow the Ida Institute at @idainstitute, facebook.com/idainstitute, or linkedin.com/company/ida-institute.

Source: Ida Institute