AudiologyNOW! 2017 making connections

To facilitate the AudiologyNOW! 2017 theme, a vast array of events have been scheduled. Hundreds of hours of lectures, workshops, learning modules, learning labs, student workshops and exhibitor courses covering the complete spectrum of audiology subjects are running from Wednesday 4th through to Sunday 7th April. The 2017 Academy Research Conference (ARC) kick-starts the learning with a full day focusing on Pediatrics examining the advancements made of the last decade and the innovations to come.

The Annual General Assembly has been moved to an earlier time; delegates will need to be up bright and early to hear from Dr. Shelly Chadha from the World Health Organization. Dr. Chadha will be talking about ‘Global action for hearing loss: making hearing care accessible to all’ for those that can make an 8am start. Curtis Alcock, a hearing care professional from the UK, will be providing food for thought during this session with a lecture entitled, ‘The science of being repulsive (and how to avoid it)’. Addressing the question of why most people avoid hearing care, Alcock uses research and experience from social sciences to look at how attitudes and behaviors are formed, and most importantly, the simple changes that can be made to make your hearing care practice or clinic, less repulsive!

It’s not all work at the AudiologyNOW! Conference. Celebrate Audiology, the opening-night party, offers delegates and exhibitors the chance to mix and mingle amongst the exhibition booths. Food, drink and entertainment help the conversations flow and people to connect on the exhibit floor. Baseball games, coffee meet-ups, picnics, banquets, international receptions and a 5k early morning run offer a plethora of opportunities to network with more than 5,000 hearing care professionals from across the world. Unfortunately, for those of you wanting to do the sunrise yoga at 6am on Friday, it has already sold out!

In the city that is best known for hosting the world’s largest single-day sporting event, the Indianapolis 500, audiologists can look forward to racing around the 65,000 square feet of exhibition space, weaving in and out of 180 exhibitor booths, stopping along the way to discover the latest technological innovations, new products, services and people that will be helping their businesses to grow and clinics to flourish.

We give the final word to 2017 program chair, Dr. Rebekah Cunningham who hopes that delegates have “Amazing learning opportunities and experiences with innovative products and technologies.”