The Conference will be held on Monday 25 November 2019. Please see the following for the preliminary Conference program.
Time | Content | Speaker |
0845 - 0855 | Welcome and Introduction | Audiology Australia |
0855 - 0955 | Hearing Health, Brain Health, Mental Health Management of hearing loss cannot be treated as an isolated sensory disorder but must include considerations for the wide-ranging ramifications of hearing loss on the physiology and psychology of the patient. Physiological considerations include that the presence of hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline, cognitive impairment, dementia, brain atrophy, and reduced brain volume. Psychological considerations include the presence of untreated hearing loss results in activity limitation and participation restriction, which in turn can have the psychological consequences of increased worry, stress, loneliness, depression, and anxiety along with reduced self-esteem. Audiologists must not only have treatment plans for amplification and signal-to-noise ratio enhancement, but must be aware of these physiological and psychological factors and be prepared to screen for non-auditory disorders. For patients who fail the screenings, audiologists should refer and engage the appropriate healthcare professionals for collaborative management of the patient. Learning Outcomes: Following this presentation, attendees should be able to:
| Dr Victor Bray |
0955 - 1055 | Collaborative Care Considerations for Adult Patients with Hearing and Balance Disorders Audiologists engage patients with comorbid health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease daily. These conditions are associated with an increased prevalence of hearing loss. Yet, addressing comorbid conditions during the case history or the hearing and balance evaluation does not occur regularly. This presentation will help you, the audiologist; identify the inter-professional team best suited to care for the patient needs. We will discuss how inter-professional referrals are established. We will address the need for patient education, which you can initiate, regarding the importance of seeking inter-professional care. Finally, through case studies we will review the audiometric profile of patients with comorbid conditions. Learning Outcomes:
| Dr Jonette Owen |
1055 - 1125 | Morning Tea | |
1125 - 1210 | Connecting People Through Technology With a greater focus on providing client-centred care in the audiology industry, and the rapid pace of technology innovation and change, the role of the clinician is changing and becoming increasingly stretched both in terms of time and resources. ReSound Assist is an innovative and unique technology featuring telecare options that allows clinicians to provide a greater level of clinical care, whilst still preserving clinical time. Clients are engaging technology much more and are starting to interact with their health care practitioners in less traditional ways through live/web-chat, email, SMS and social media. People want to feel current, connected and in control of all aspects of their lives - and healthcare is no exception. This presentation will explore the opportunities and benefits of using telehealth technology, like Resound Assist, and how it supports practice management and provides a richer client experience. Research studies that look at the effectiveness of remotely fine-tuning hearing aids and hearing aid fitting outcomes when using this technology will be also be reviewed. Learning Outcomes:
| Stephanie Meier |
1210 - 1300 | The role of audiologists as hearing health educators with other allied health professionals Diabetes is a common chronic disease in Australia, with ABS data reporting that over 1.2 million Australians identify as having the condition in 2018. Diabetes is a term used to describe the inability of the body to regulate the level of glucose in the bloodstream. The widespread systemic effects of this on the body requires a multidisciplinary healthcare approach to managing the condition in order to minimise its impacts and improve quality of life for the patient. Hearing is one of the processes which has been shown to be affected by diabetes-related hyperglycaemia. Unfortunately it seems that referral for audiological assessment is not routine for many GPs when managing patients with diabetes, which can contribute to the already high rates of undiagnosed hearing loss in the community. This lack of awareness about the risks to hearing from diabetes has extended to other areas of support and education services provided to these patients. As hearing professionals, audiologists have a role to play in educating the community as a whole about hearing healthcare, not just those that make it into clinics. Audiologists should not only understand diabetes and its management from a hearing perspective, but also how to meaningfully contribute to a multidisciplinary team in order to provide the best possible care for patients. With good coordination and understanding between audiology and other aspects of healthcare, we can have our expertise valued and hopefully create more awareness within the community about the importance of audiology. | Jason Snelling |
1300 - 1400 | Lunch | |
1400 - 1500 | Hearing and Vision Impairment and Mental Well-Being in Older Age Age-related hearing loss is a marker of risk of cognitive decline and dementia. I will outline possible links between hearing/vision impairment and cognition, including hearing/vision loss as a biomarker for cognitive well-being, the impact of cognitive declines on function and sensory impairment as a causal contributor to cognitive decline and poor quality of life in older age. I will share recent research including our own work modelling i) relationships between age-related impairment of sensory function and cognition and ii) modelling the impact of sensory interventions (i.e. hearing aid use and cataract surgery) on cognitive outcomes between intervention and control groups. I will argue that effective prevention, identification and management of hearing and vision problems represents an important opportunity to optimise mental well-being and quality of life in older age. Learning Outcomes:
| Dr Piers Dawes |
1500 - 1545 | Cochlear implantation as a treatment for single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss - what does the evidence show? | Scott Eckert |
1545 - 1615 | Afternoon Tea | |
1615 - 1730 | Panel Discussion: The role of the audiologist in managing co-morbidities | Facilitator: Christopher Lind Members: Piers Dawes, Jason Snelling, Jonathon Perkov |
1730 - 1830 | Networking Drinks |
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