#WorldHearingDay session for Special Olympics Belgium

The joined Audiology Educational Settings in Belgium, organised a special theme day, on Hearing and Cognition for Audiology Students, in Leuven for Special Olympics Belgium. Marleen De Sloovere Evelien Bienstman Melina Willems Alexandra Van Eynde

More than 54 audiology students, 10 special Olympics Belgium athletes, 18 audiologists and lecturers joined forces.

We were happy to present "Hearing aid fitting and adapted audiology protocols for the growing group of people with cognitive impairment" together with Kate Dupuis, Ph.D., C.Psych.

The WHO World Report on Hearing states that Unaddressed hearing loss may be responsible for over 8% of cases of dementia among older adults. And that "The use of hearing aids can also protect against cognitive decline and dementia". Shelly Chadha Lidia Best , CPACC Katya Freire

According to Gj?ra L, et al. in "Current and Future Prevalence Estimates of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Dementia, and Its Subtypes in a Population-Based Sample of People 70 Years and Older in Norway: The HUNT Study" published in 2021, the prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia is in total 45% for the 75-79 year age group in Norway, and 49% for the age 80-84 year age group. Which are the age groups of the majority of hearing aid users we serve in our Audiology Clinics.

And according to Kate Dupuis, when they questioned the population of older adults, they serve in their audiology clinic, 52% had Visual issues, 44% Cognitive issues and 38% Manual dexterity issues.

Kate Dupuis, gave very practical guidelines, tips and tricks on how to adapt our protocols and how to communicate most effectively with this growing population. And the audiology students and other participants enjoyed this session.

If you want to hear more on this topic.

The Belgian Audiology Society B-Audio (baudio.be) Audiology is organising their series of Virtual Spring Evening Meetings on the topic of "Hearing and Cognition" on the 16th, 18th and 24th of April 2024, and Kate Dupuis, Ph.D., C.Psych. is one of the key-note speakers on the last evening, related to "Person-centred hearing care in older adults with and without cognitive decline".

Participation is free of charge for B-Audio members and only € 30,00 on total for the 3 evening sessions for non-members, to this can't be a reason not to join :-) Hannah Keppler Jan Wouters Astrid van Wieringen

We were also happy to promote the 36th World Congress of Audiology, which will run in Paris from the 19th till the 22nd of September 2024. Hung THAI-VAN Astrid van Wieringen

We have posted an earlier LinkedIn post on the full programme of this theme day, which is also registered as a World Hearing Day Activity Mauro Menzietti Shelly Chadha Chitra Chander Shekhar

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/mark-laureyns-9a3a336a_worldhearingday-activity-7169312168511811585-Ic2D?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop