Wednesday, April 24, 2024
4/24/2024
Project summary The goal of this application is to obtain funding for the Fifth International Meeting on Internet & Audiology, to be held at Rush University on May 3-4, 2021. The meeting will bring together researchers and clinicians from around the world to discuss research needs, design, and implementation in the area of internet-based audiology and to identify opportunities and challenges of internet-based hearing care in order to advance audiology and patient care in the future. The meeting is important because the internet has become an integral part of modern medicine, transforming health care practice and delivery in many specialty areas. In the practice of audiology, the internet has provided tremendous opportunities for access to hearing health care across large and often underserved geographic areas, potentially lowering the costs and improving quality of care. Internet-based research and internet-based health applications, known as eHealth, can be used effectively to promote public and personalized hearing health through (i) rapid data collection, storage and analysis, (ii) enhanced opportunities for hearing assessment, education, counselling and rehabilitation, (iii) remote programming of hearing aids and cochlear implants, and (iv) new tools for self-management and family-centered care. As internet use becomes further integrated into many audiologic practices, consumer health care decisions may be increasingly influenced by information available online, including through social media. More research and continued discussion is needed to keep pace with fast-changing technology in order to most effectively leverage the opportunities afforded by the internet in affordability and access, while ensuring the delivery of high quality patient-centered care. The proposed 2-day conference will focus on four themes that will each be introduced by a keynote speaker: 1. Patient-centered care and eHealth, 2. Social media and hearing care, 3. Online audiologic rehabilitation, and 4. Implementation science: barriers and facilitators to implementation in teleaudiology. The specific aims of the meeting are, first, to provide an opportunity for researchers and clinicians across the globe to exchange ideas, discuss current research and practices and develop collaborations in internet-based audiology care; second, to support the development of future research and clinical practices in eHealth and teleaudiology through podium and poster presentations, panel discussions, theme-based breakout sessions, a student-mentor lunch, a meet the scientist lunch, and through the provision of early-career investigator and graduate student travel awards; and third, to disseminate findings from the conference by publishing articles from selected presentations and four white papers, based on the conference themes, in a special issue of the American Journal of Audiology, and by making available recordings of podium presentations and poster materials on the conference website, as additional methods to promote further research and clinical practice.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
