⁠Conference Program

Friday 30th November 2018

⁠

8:15am 8:45am Registration & Arrival Tea & Coffee
8:45am 8:55am Welcome and Introductions
8:55am 9:35am Martha Burns
Updates in Neuroscience – How therapy changes the brain.
The human brain is a remarkably plastic organ – changed by experience and selectively pruned with disuse throughout our lives. This session will cover the newest research on how therapy drives neuroplastic change, and will distinguish between what is understood about natural and therapeutically driven recovery processes. Research on the effects of therapy on sensory and motor function, perceptual skills, speech, language and cognition will be emphasized.
9:35am 10:15am Dr Rob Eikelboom
Capacity building of ear and earing services in underserved areas – WHO and other initiatives.
The WHO and others have documented that the global burden of ear disease is immense, and is expected to increase in future decades due mostly to two factors: the ageing of the population and the new risks of hearing loss posed by entertainment related sounds. The challenge of ear and hearing health care professionals will be to meet the current and growing demand for services, especially in developing countries. The presentation will describe aspects of the current demands, the barriers faced, and some of the potential solutions.
10:15am 10:45am Morning Tea
10:45am 11:25am Dr Isabelle Boisvert
Auditory Training in adults – when experience and data are misaligned.
Despite being recommended and conducted clinically, robust evidence is lacking to support that auditory training is beneficial for adults with hearing loss. This study assessed the effectiveness of auditory training in adults using cochlear implants in the context of clinical decision-making, resource allocation and evidence-based practice. Results suggest that current practice is varied and associated to varied costs. A systematic review of the literature, including a well-controlled clinical study in adult CI users showed that auditory training may lead to improvement during training on the trained tasks, but not in untrained measures. This presentation will provide suggestions that are relevant to both current clinical practices and future research studies.
11:25am 12:05pm Marjolijn Kindt
Technological innovation in hearing aid batteries: Why Lithium-Ion?
Session overview:
• How traditional battery size has influenced hearing aid design
• Benefits of Lithium-ion
• Different types of rechargeable technology – inductive vs galvanic
• How lithium-ion offers flexibility in design
• Consumer research around the new SLIM-RIC design factor (Slim Lithium-Ion Module Receiver-in-the-Canal)
• Improvements in reliability and convenience with lithium ion
12:05pm 12:35pm Ian Mawby
Choice and control for real-life real-time hearing
Hearing happens in real life, not in a research laboratory or in your clinic. Audiological research has focused on auditory processing in the peripheral system and more recently on auditory cognition and how sound is processed in the brain. But in real life, the context, circumstances, intention and emotions of the user will impact on their overall listening experience. What happens when a user evaluates their listening experience “in the moment” and decides it is not satisfactory?  Typically, they change their behaviour to adjust the acoustic scene, adjust the hearing solution or adjust their life situation. New developments in machine-learning now enable users to have both choice and control in the personal decisions they make which influence their listening experience. This talk will explore advances in ecological momentary assessment which will drive the way we provide amplification into the future.
12:35pm 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm 2:00pm Stream Split
Thinking outside the box - Paediatrics   OR   Thinking outside the box - Adults

Martha Burns                                                        Alan Harvey
Autism                                             Music and human evolution: the
                                                         importance of music in education and therapy
2:00pm 2:30pm Stream Split
Thinking outside the box - Paediatrics   OR   Thinking outside the box - Adults

Felicity McNally                                                    Kate Wisbey
Speech and Language milestones                   Vestibular Physiotherapy
0-7 yrs of age and red flag for referral                                                                            
2:30pm 3:00pm Stream Split
Thinking outside the box - Paediatrics   OR   Thinking outside the box - Adults

Emily Cook                                                                            Kate Lewkowski
Management of Listening Challenges                           Industrial Noise
in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder                                                                             
3:00pm 3:30pm Afternoon Tea
3:30pm 4:15pm Brent Edwards
Trends Shaping the Future of Audiology and Hearing Technology
The pace of innovation in hearing healthcare is faster than it has ever been, with changes to technology, services and delivery channels that will forever impact people with hearing loss and the professionals who provide hearing healthcare. These advances span the hearing landscape from the medical domain across to the consumer domain, from implantable devices to self-diagnostic apps. This talk will provide the context for which telemedicine, machine learning, hearing science and other advances will shape who will be the new consumers of hearing healthcare, how they will receive treatment, and what those treatments may look like.
4:15pm 5:30pm Technology Panel - Bridging the technological gap
Facilitated by Brent Edwards
5:30pm 6:30pm Networking Drinks

                                           

⁠

⁠Pre Conference Workshop 1

Thursday 29th November 2018

⁠⁠Optional - Limited to 40 Participants
Additional Charges Apply

 8:00am  8:30am  Registration & Arrival
 8:30am  8:32am  Welcome and Introductions
 8:32am    10:00am  Dr Rob Eikelboom and Azadeh Ebrahimi, supported by Dr Isabelle Boisvert  
 Taking your patient management to the next level; how to incorporate hearing implants in your patient management.
Audiologists are dedicated to timely and proper intervention and management of hearing loss. There is a compelling body of evidence highlighting the detrimental impact of unmanaged or poorly managed hearing loss on social, emotional and cognitive decline of those with hearing loss. Although, this is well adopted for the paediatric population, it is not well-understood or practiced for adults particularly for those with more severe degrees of hearing loss. The low uptake rate of cochlear implants (around 10 to 15%) for those who could benefit may be evidence that this needs further investigation. 
 
This workshop will provide an overview of current research findings on the underlying known barriers and drivers to cochlear implant uptake for those who could obtain benefits. Findings and insights from separate Australian studies on the topic will be presented.

Workshop participants will actively be involved in interacting with this topic by completing a short survey prior to the workshop. During the workshop participants will be invited to discuss possible barriers and solutions to help improve patients’ access to information and shared decision-making related to device choices for adults with more severe degrees of hearing loss. 
 10:00am  10:15am   Morning Tea
 10:15am  11:45am       workshop to continue


Pre Conference Workshop 2 

Thursday 29th November 2018

⁠Optional - Limited to 40 Participants
Additional Charges Apply

 11:30am  12:00pm 

 Registration & Arrival Tea & Coffee

 12:00pm  

 12:02pm  

 Welcome and Introductions

 12:02pm  1:30pm

 Dr Isabelle Boisvert
 Audiology in practice – re-thinking problem solving
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.

 1:30pm  1:45pm  Afternoon Tea
 1:45pm  3:15pm  Workshop to continue


Pre Conference Workshop 3

Thursday 29th November 2018

⁠Optional - Limited to 40 Participants
Additional Charges Apply

 3:00pm  3:30pm 

 Registration & Arrival Tea & Coffee

 3:30pm  

 3:32pm  

 Welcome and Introductions

 3:32pm  5:00pm

 Martha Burns
 Effects of Poverty on School Success
Several new studies have shown that students from families below the poverty line are at the greatest risk for academic failure. Research reveals that low family income has a bigger impact on academics than ethnicity or English language proficiency. Listen to Dr. Martha Burns as she reviews the newest research and provides evidence of how the Fast ForWord intervention has been found to have a significant impact on academic achievement in children of poverty. 

 5:00pm  5:15pm  Afternoon Tea
 5:15pm  6:45pm  Workshop to continue





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