Conference Program
Friday 15th March 2019
9:15am |
9:45am |
Registration & Arrival Tea & Coffee |
9:45am |
9:55am |
Welcome and Introductions |
9:55am |
10:55am |
Professor Frini Karayanidis, Director, Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Psychology, The University of Newcastle, Australia Cognitive control processes across the lifespan: 'canary in the coalmine'?
Cognitive control (CC; or executive functions) refers to the family of top-down mental processes that support goal-directed behaviour that are critical for the efficient completion of everyday routines and for setting and working towards mid- to long-term goals. Cognitive control processes are supported by widespread brain networks that link the prefrontal cortex with cortical and subcortical brain areas and together enable higher-order CC processes, such as reasoning, problem-solving, planning, etc. These processes and the frontal brain areas that support them show protracted development, being the last to mature in mid-late 20s and the first to decline in late adulthood. I will discuss recent work highlighting that CC processes are critical for psychological, social and physical wellbeing in healthy populations and many clinical disorders. I will present the evidence that disruption of CC processes is consistently linked to poor mental and physical health, quality of life, educational, social, occupational, and public health outcomes across the lifespan, leading Diamond (Ann Rev Psychol 2013) to characterise CC processes as ‘the canary in the coalmine’ – a powerful predictor of maladaptive mental and physical outcomes.
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10:55am |
11:25am |
Morning Tea |
11:25am |
12:15pm |
Rakshita Gokula Cognition and hearing: a paediatric perspective
In audiology clinical practice, we measure hearing and potentially auditory processing. However, is that enough to assist school aged children in their ability to read, listen in noise or communicate? What is the contribution of cognition or language? Cognition encompasses a number of different skills but two that are of immense interest to hearing researchers are attention and memory.
The aim of the presentation is to discuss contributions of attention, memory and language along with hearing and auditory processing in functional tasks such as reading and speech recognition in noise.
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12:15pm |
1:05pm |
Joanna McAdam Everything is Connected: Cognition and young children with hearing loss
Listening and Spoken Language Therapy (Auditory Verbal Therapy/AVT) focuses on teaching parents of babies and young children how to teach their children with hearing loss how to listen and speak. The foundation of this approach is that children have the best possible access to sound. Further, AVT is based on the knowledge that hearing loss is a peripheral problem and that information getting to the brain via the best technology in a clear and consistent way is vital to children achieving spoken language, literacy, and social skills outcomes in line with their hearing peers.
The aim of this talk is to look at how to track cognitive development in children with hearing loss including listening, play and thinking skills, social cognition (or theory of mind) and executive functions. Further we will discuss how we incorporate developing these skills in our therapy. We will also look at some recent evidence that certain cognitive functions are at risk for children who have hearing loss. There will also be case study discussion.
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1:05pm |
2:05pm |
Lunch |
2:05pm |
3:05pm |
Associate Professor Catherine Birman Hearing loss and cognition across the lifespan
Hearing loss at different ages has been associated with many different cognitive effects. Greater understanding is emerging regarding the effort or ease of listening and the concept of cognitive load. Working memory, depression, anxiety and stress can be negatively impacted by hearing loss. Much focus recently has centred on the impact of hearing loss and risk of dementia.
At each stage of life the impact of hearing loss and the issues for the individual vary. The presentation will review the effect of identification of hearing loss and the impact of hearing loss management on cognitive issues.
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3:05pm |
3:30pm |
Afternoon Tea |
3:30pm |
4:30pm |
Associate Professor Grant Searchfield The evolution of hearing aids to cogn'aids.
Untreated hearing loss speeds up age-related decline in cognition and is a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. Hearing aids have been proposed as a sensory-based intervention to slow age-related cognitive decline. But are current hearing aid fitting strategies fit for this purpose? Many hearing aids use fast signal processing to improve audibility of sound and comfort in noise. But individuals with cognitive difficulties are not able to process rapid signal changes and experience distortion instead. This talk will introduce a cognitively focused hearing aid fitting strategy (the CogniAid) intended to improve hearing and cognition in older persons. The basis of the fitting strategy, and the clinical trial underway to test the concept, will be described.
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4:30pm |
6:00pm |
Ageing Colloquium
By 2050, one-in-four Australian adults will experience hearing loss, and older adults will and greatest impairment. Hearing loss impacts communication and quality of life for the person with the hearing difficulties, their significant others, and is just one of many conditions which contribute to the complexities of ageing. An understanding of the breadth and complexity of the ageing process is essential for professionals working with older adults, to deliver consumer-centric, family-centred care.
This colloquium will bring a multidisciplinary approach to how ageing can impact an individual’s quality of life and functioning. Rather than focusing on impairment alone, the panel will also consider how ageing impacts an individual’s Activities, Participation, along with the influence of individual context.
This session will provide delegates an opportunity to reflect on their individual practice and promote a holistic approach to achieving the best outcomes for older adults.
This panel will consist of a group of experts from diverse professional backgrounds.
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6:00pm |
7:00pm |
Networking Drinks |
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Post Conference Workshop 1
Saturday 16th March 2019
Hearing loss, tinnitus and cognition. The natural selection of audiology practice.
Optional - Limited to 40 Participants
Additional Charges Apply
8:30am |
9:00am |
Registration & Arrival |
9:00am |
9:05am |
Welcome and Introductions |
9:05am |
10:30am |
Associate Professor Grant Searchfield
The habitat of Audiologists is changing. We are facing threats to the status quo with new technologies and consumer driven concepts of hearing health service delivery encroaching on our environment. But with these challenges new opportunities arise. Most populations in the developed world are aging. As we age the chances of hearing loss and tinnitus increase. Persons with tinnitus are more likely to have a hearing loss than not. Persons with tinnitus also tend to do poorer at complex thinking tasks than those without. Untreated hearing loss has been identified as a risk for more rapid cognitive decline as we age. Thus hearing loss, tinnitus and poorer cognition with age are inter-related. Is it possible that hearing aids could improve hearing, tinnitus and reduce the chance of mild cognitive impairment and dementia? The number of people with dementia worldwide is estimated to double in the next three decades. This will have a huge impact on healthcare budgets worldwide, so urgent efforts are needed to reduce this burden. Audiology can take a lead in this area. This workshop will cover emerging audiology practice across hearing loss and tinnitus with a focus on incorporating cognitive function as part of your scope of practice. Clinical tools for the assessment and management of cognitive decline will be introduced and demonstrated, including an aural rehabilitation approach comprising: instruction, counselling, sensory management and perceptual training. Barriers and facilitators to new and emerging practices will be discussed.
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10:30am |
10:45am |
Morning Tea |
10:45am |
12:15pm |
Workshop finishes at 12.15pm |
Post Conference Workshop 2
Saturday 16th March 2 019
Audiology in practice - re-thinking problem solving
Optional - Limited to 40 Participants
Additional Charges Apply
12:30pm |
1:00pm |
Registration & Arrival Tea & Coffee |
1:00pm |
1:05pm |
Welcome and Introductions |
1:05pm |
2:30pm |
Dr Isabelle Boisvert Many of us have ideas about how to improve professional services in Audiology. Different approaches exist to tackle the clinical problems we face, including quality improvement, evidence-based practice, clinical research, or marketing processes. These processes, however, often become entangled despite having different aims, leading to unfocused outcomes that are difficult to implement. Through individual and group activities, this workshop aims to provide practical ways to articulate and understand existing problems we encounter as audiologists, as well as to clarify how different problem-solving frameworks can be used in practice. It will further discuss how recent knowledge in implementation sciences can help approach clinical changes. |
2:30pm |
2:45pm |
Afternoon Tea |
2:45pm |
4:15pm |
Workshop finishes at 4.15pm |
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