‘I believe that the Ida Institute and I have the same goal which is to improve outcomes,’ said Prof. Louise Hickson. Prof. Hickson recently started a project entitled ACE: Active Communication Education. The aim of ACE is for adults with hearing impairment to become more effective communicators by providing them with strategies to cope better in everyday life.
ACE was developed out of a program of research conducted in the Communication Disability Centre at The University of Queensland and it has been extensively evaluated.
The program encourages families to work together and find effective strategies for daily life issues, for example, participants do exercises related to lip reading and face to face communication.
‘ACE has been extremely popular because it is simple yet effective,’ said Hickson. ‘And the evidence shows that it does make a positive difference to the lives of older people with hearing impairment.’
Professor Louise Hickson is Acting Head of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Co-Director of the Communication Disability Centre at The University of Queensland.