Marc Osswald, EUHA Executive Committee, Stuttgart, Germany: The 67th International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians registered 9900 delegates from 96 countries. EUHA 2023 offered 24 expert lectures, a Knowledge Symposium, a roundtable discussion, four tutorials and four Future Friday keynote lectures. At the industry exhibition, 130 exhibitors from 17 countries presented their innovations. The top four countries of visitors' origin were Germany, China, Denmark and France.
Featuring topics such as Auracast, the new Bluetooth technology, and a review of one year of over-the-counter devices in the US, the excellent scientific programme was greeted with much praise. Every day, there was a lecture or tutorial with an expert from Switzerland, the 2023 partner country. There was also a Swiss perspective in the roundtable discussion focusing on ‘Changing hearing aid acoustics: the European perspective on the future of better hearing and intelligibility’.
Opening the Knowledge Symposium, Christoph Schwob, advisory member of the Swiss Audiological Commission and member of the Paediatric Audiology professional group of the Federal Social Insurance Office, held a lecture on 'Specialist shops will always be needed – or will hearing aids soon only be available online?'.
Three young scientists were honoured with the EUHA Sponsorship Award during the Knowledge Symposium: Sonja Tänzer, BSc (first prize), looking at a phenomenon known as hidden hearing loss in: ‘Effectiveness of hearing aid fitting for patients with almost normal pure-tone audiograms to reduce tinnitus’; Sophie Jäker, BEng (second prize), proposing a topic with the potential for development in: ‘Evaluation of measurement methods for speech intelligibility and listening effort in complex acoustic scenes’; and Marc Tielesch, BSc (third prize), describing a process that increases acceptance by getting patients actively involved in: ‘Prescriptive fitting of hearing systems based on NAL-NL2 in comparison with a free-field fitting procedure based on MCL-based loudness adjustment’.
Marianne Frickel was the recipient of the FDHA Foundation Award honouring her for her outstanding commitment to our line of business.
To make Future Friday more appealing to the next generation of industry players, there were free tickets for pupils and apprentices. There was also a special programme for young people including guided tours of the exhibition and a lecture on ‘Social media for young professionals’ by Peter Mestel. His advice: young people should get a LinkedIn account; it's worth being active on this channel early on. And he regards WhatsApp as the strongest social media channel. The tool will also become increasingly important in customer communication.
The industry exhibition was the right place for anyone looking for information on the latest in hearing aid technology. Current topics at the much-frequented exhibition stands included Bluetooth, new battery technology, low energy, AI, small RIC systems, and modern designs. The EUHA app made it easy for participants to stay up to scratch, and to network.
The EUHA will soon be offering the lectures on the "EUHA Learning Hub". Find out all the details on www.euha.org/en/.
The 68th International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians has been scheduled to be held in Hanover, 16-18 October 2024.
