AG Bell Global Listening & Spoken Language Symposia - AG Bell’s annual AG Bell Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium in 2022, 2023, and 2024 will each include four keynote presentations that focus on the sharing of high-impact research that will impart a fuller understanding of specific issues related to childhood hearing loss and, as appropriate, practical application to the population of children with hearing loss. The primary goal is to inform researchers, clinicians, other professionals, family members, and other stakeholders of the benefits of various interventions to improve child outcomes related to hearing loss, speech and language, social and emotional, education and health. Specific aims for the Research Forum and related activities include: Aim 1) to provide clinicians/researchers with clinically and educationally relevant research in oral presentations by professionals who are involved in cutting-edge work applicable to immediate and/or future interventions with children and others who are deaf or hard of hearing; Aim 2) to provide the public with open access to recorded keynote sessions (captioned and available in spoken English and Spanish) on AG Bell’s website so that clinicians/researchers, other professionals, parents/family members and individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, who may not have been in attendance at the AG Bell Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium, have the opportunity to learn about current research; Aim 3) to provide attendees and the public with open access to a written proceedings document to support learning that was initiated at the symposium during keynote sessions and that could improve short-term and long-term outcomes of children when translated to clinical and educational environments; Aim 4) to provide students interested in pursuing research careers with funding that will support their learning about pediatric hearing loss, listening and spoken language and related issues; and Aim 5) to create a video, “Taking the Mystery Out of Research,” and provide open access to this tool on AG Bell’s website so that parents, other caregivers, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and others as active consumers, may better understand and appropriately apply evidence-based information to one’s own self, child and/or family and know what tools exist for locating high-quality data and research information. The three symposia will focus on the following research topics on hearing loss: 2022: Hot Topics that Impact Outcomes for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Virtual 2023: The Impacts of Identification and Intervention on Children who are Followed Longitudinally in Australia, Hybrid Symposium, Brisbane, Australia. 2024 – Predicting Outcomes through Knowledge and Optimization of Application of Interventions for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Hybrid Symposium, Portland, Oregon.
