ABSTRACT
Hearing loss is highly prevalent but under-addressed, highlighting the need to assure hearing’s place on public
health agendas across the life course (e.g., aging and cognitive decline). There is a paucity of population
research on the social, historical and cultural determinants of health on hearing, and the effects of hearing loss
on physical as well as on psychological and social health. A fuller understanding of these issues may be
advanced using new methodological approaches to address hearing health in the population (for example,
participatory research using co-production research methods involving community stakeholders). Population
Hearing Health Care (PopHHC) is a network of researchers, clinicians, students, and leading advocates in Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for people who live with hearing loss. PopHHC aims to increase the
impact of hearing health care research on global hearing health care in order to prevent hearing loss and to
improve the lives of those who live with hearing loss. Specifically, PopHHC promotes investigations of
individual-level population data using technological advances and data-sharing infrastructures that are
becoming more common. PopHHC aims to consolidate efforts across disciplines and countries so that
converging evidence can be used to promote what is known, identify gaps in knowledge, and unify resources
that can be shared to build a strong evidence base. The overarching goal of PopHHC is to facilitate growth in
the breadth and impact of interdisciplinary work in population health research related to hearing. This goal will
be accomplished through the proposed series of conferences that will provide an opportunity to exchange the
latest research and models, broaden networks and interdisciplinary collaborations, and facilitate the
recruitment and training of the next generation of diverse and dynamic researchers. Thus, three specific aims
are: (1) Facilitate building and expanding resources (databases, metrics, tools) so that knowledge transfer is
broadened and deepened among current researchers in population hearing health; (2) Promote inter-
disciplinary research by bringing together experts from areas of population health research other than ear and
hearing care to engage in discussions and activities related to population hearing health where there are
unrealized synergies between hearing health and other domains of health; and (3) Support the development of
future generations of a diverse network of researchers in population hearing, with a targeted effort to
include participants from traditionally un- and under-represented backgrounds.