Spanish audiology says goodbye to one of the profession's most prestigious figures with the death of Enrique Salesa

Praise for Salesa’s dedication to audiology flooded in once the sad news of his death was released. Even in his retirement, this expert maintained a close connection with Barcelona’s Salesa Hearing Institute (Instituto Auditivo Salesa), continuing to magnify a profession to which he contributed immensely as architect and founding father of the non-profit Pedro Salesa Cabo Foundation.

The website of the latter Foundation issued the following tribute to Salesa: “The members of the board of trustees and the technical team of the foundation wish to convey the great loss of the founder and President of the foundation; a key figure in the promotion of this entity’s various projects to provide people with scarce economic resources with the means to alleviate their hearing impairment, and to promote research and training in the specialties of otorhinolaryngology, audiology, speech-language therapy, and speech therapy. May he rest in peace”.

Salesa praised by Spanish professional associations.

The two main Spanish associations representing the audiology profession – ANA and AEDA – have also paid flowing tributes to Salesa, who was born in 1933 in Figueres, Catalonia:

From ANA: “We want to express our most sincere condolences for the loss of our colleague Sr. Enrique Salesa Batlle, with whom we had the opportunity to share pleasant moments in the profession of audiology and in our association, of which he was one of the founders accompanying us in this profession and at all times throughout his life. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.”

“From AEDA we regret the death of our beloved and admired Sr. Enrique Salesa Batlle. There were many experiences and much knowledge of audiology that Enrique shared with our association. Our deepest appreciation and gratitude. We feel the pain of his family and friends “.

Among other tributes from the profession, homage was quick to emerge from the Spanish Association of Logopedics, Phoniatrics, and Audiology (AELFA), of which Salesa was a former President and Honorary President: “Dear member, with great pain we regret to inform you of the loss of our dear Honorary President, benchmark, and friend, Sr. Enrique Salesa Batlle. Our recognition and deep gratitude to Mr. Salesa: generosity, a welcoming open-house, promoter, and inexhaustible creator, wise Renaissance man. We share the pain of his family and friends. An eternal hug from his AELFA family”.

“A great of Spanish audiology”

One of Spain’s current audiology leaders, Sebastian Bernal, President of the Andalusian Association of Higher Technicians in Hearing Care (AATSAP), paid his tribute, calling Salesa “a great of Spanish audiology, both as professional and person”. Bernal recalled a recent “masterly” 2019 AATSAP conference presentation by Salesa in which the latter underlined the importance of preserving auditory memory, “key to the success of rehabilitation through hearing aids”, pointing out the genetic import of this memory and its epigenetic significance. Salesa also stressed that stem cell research would take years to deliver its fruits, and warned against the use of over-the-counter hearing aids without the supervision of a professional audiologist.

Source: Audio en Portada