IdaNews

The February 2012 issue of Seminars in Hearing focuses entirely on the work, principles and tools of the Ida Institute. The issue contains 10 articles written by Ida US Academic Panel members and others on the benefits of patient centered care practices in the field of audiology.

The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe recently released an educational textbook describing how health professionals can use the Ida Motivation Tools (the Line, the Box, and the Circle) to better understand and empower patients to change their lifestyle and behavior.

The WHO textbook, titled “Engage in the Process of Change; Facts and Methods,” explains how the motivation tools can help support health professionals in a range of medical areas, such as surgery, cardiology and audiology. The textbook emphasizes that the tools are easy-to-use and flexible enough to adapt to the individual patient, making them an excellent resource for doctors and other health care professionals who want to support their patients through the process of change.

Ida Fellows Vinaya Manchaiah and Dafydd Stephens have proposed a new model to represent communication partners within the social context of a person with hearing loss. Their proposed model, “Communication World,” is based on the analogy of the solar system. They presented the model in a journal article in Audiological Medicine.

Manchaiah and Stephens were instrumental in developing Ida’s Communication Rings tool during our seminar series on Communication Partnerships. The seminar series explored the role hearing loss may have on an individual’s relationships and communication with friends, spouses and family members. The Communication Rings tool helps patients identify important people in their lives and consider how their hearing loss impacts their relationships with them.

Light bulbs flashed across Boston two weeks ago. The Ida Institute launched the Ideas competition with sparkle, speeches and good conversation at a well-attended open-house party at the 2012 AAA Conference. At the conference, we welcomed new members to our Ida community and saw many familiar faces at our exhibit.

Ida Institute staff and fellows will contribute to the upcoming AAA Conference in Boston by staffing an exhibit, holding a workshop on the Living Well tool and previewing the Ida Group AR Multi-Media Manual.

Throughout the conference, Ida will staff an exhibit where visitors can join our network, pick up hard-copies of our tools and purchase our two newest tools: Living Well and My World. Ida staff will be available to discuss the tools at the exhibit’s Tool Wall, where all Ida tools will be displayed. We will also be conducting demonstrations of the Living Well and My World tools throughout the day.

In the exhibit’s lounge area, visitors can relax and explore Ida’s online offerings, such as our E-Learning Lab, Forum and idea competition for hearing loss awareness. Our exhibit is n

The Oticon Foundation and the Ida Institute will launch a global initiative to find innovative ideas to inspire action and raise public awareness for hearing loss on 28 March 2012 at the AAA Conference in Boston.

We are revisiting the land down under this spring for five interactive workshops on the Living Well and My World tools. This will mark a great opportunity for the Ida Institute to introduce our two new tools to the Australian hearing care community.

Ida audiologist Karen Parfitt will present the Living Well and My World tools throughout locations in Western and South Australia. Four of the workshops will be dedicated to hearing care professionals at Australian Hearing. Australian Hearing is the official government provider of hearing services in Australia and one of the largest providers in the world. Through its research unit, the National Acoustic Laboratories, Australian Hearing has made significant contributions to understanding and treating hearing loss.

A couple weeks ago, 25 hearing care professionals from around the world participated in the first installment of our “Managing Change: Realities and Roadblocks” seminar series.

This month we want to spotlight Ida Fellow Anita Erras. Anita will help present the Ida Motivation Tools at four upcoming European Union of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA) technical seminars in Germany. She will join Ida Learning Specialist Ena Nielsen in conducting workshops in Nürnberg (2 March), Lübeck (9 March), Dresden (16 March), and Köln (23 March).

The European Union of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA) has invited the Ida Institute to present the Motivation Tools at four upcoming EUHA technical seminars this March. These seminars will help introduce hearing care professionals across Germany to Ida’s easy-to-implement tools and methods.