Phonak Phonak announced that it has invited a select group of hearing healthcare experts to provide evidence-based recommendations to hearing care providers on how to better engage family members.

According to Phonak’s panel experts, hearing loss impacts everyone involved in the life of someone challenged with hearing issues, especially family and loved ones. However, research shows that a low percentage of significant others are actually involved in the hearing healthcare process. Further, there is evidence that treatment outcomes are better when families are involved, positively impacting overall patient satisfaction.

The panel is working to identify evidence-based recommendations that are easy to implement in daily practice. The first deliverable will be a position statement to be published in early 2016.

Phonak Expert Panel

From left: Bill Dickinson, Kris English, Barbra Timmer, Louise Hickson, Mary Beth Jennings, Elizabeth Thompson, Ora Buerkli-Halevy, Gurjit Singh.

Phonak’s team of experts is led by panel chairperson Louise Hickson, PhD, professor of audiology and head of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The first meeting of the expert panel also included Kris English, PhD, professor at the University of Akron/NOAC, Akron, Ohio; Mary Beth Jennings, PhD, associate professor at the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada; Gurjit Singh, PhD, senior research audiologist, Phonak AG; and Barbra Timmer, MACAud, MAudSA, MBA, research audiologist and PhD candidate, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Other experts will also be contributing to the effort moving forward and will collaborate on the position statement.

Phonak is very excited to sponsor and support this initiative to help increase practice effectiveness,” said Ora Buerkli-Halevy, vice president, global audiology, Phonak AG. “The objective is to facilitate family involvement throughout the process. This initiative is based on scientific evidence showing that involving the family results in increased uptake of hearing healthcare and better outcomes.”

Source: Phonak