Naerum, Denmark— The Oticon Foundation has awarded a grant to the Ida Institute, which will conduct a global online brain storming campaign for increasing public awareness and understanding about hearing loss.

The Ida Institute will use the funds to apply its approach to innovation and collaboration for their online idea-generating campaign. The open innovation process is designed to identify the best projects from around the world to encourage people to take action, change public perception, and generate better understanding of hearing loss.

Niels Boserup, chairman of Oticon Foundation, said in the press statement, “We look forward to calling upon the resources of the Institute’s extensive global network to help us capture the best thinking and the most effective approaches to increase public understanding of hearing loss and its impact not only on people with hearing loss but on their families, friends, and communities.”

Ida Institute managing director Lise Lotte Bundesen added in the announcement, “We know from our collaborative work in Ida seminars, workshops, and other knowledge-sharing initiatives that our global network can bring an incredible amount of experience, knowledge, and creativity to this exciting new project. Extending our collaborative efforts to the general public will give us even more opportunity to collect unique public awareness-building and educational ideas from around the world.”

The Oticon Foundation will join with the Ida Institute to officially launch the new initiative during the American Academy of Audiology’s 2012 AudiologyNOW! Conference in March 2012. Hearing and health care professionals, individuals, and organizations will be invited to submit beneficial, achievable, constructive, and ready-to-go ideas and campaign messages that have the potential to build worldwide awareness and educate the general public about hearing loss. The open call for submissions will consider a wide range of topics that address hearing loss understanding, acceptance, and management.

SOURCE: The Ida Institute