Introduction to the Hear Glue Ear resource and update on a pilot intervention project
Monday, 4th October 2021
This webinar will be of interest to teachers of deaf children, speech and language therapists, audiologists, and parents.
Of all the children who are deaf across the world fewer than 10% wear a hearing aid. Research in Cambridge has been searching for an affordable solution for the most common type of hearing loss in childhood affecting the middle ear: glue ear.
Children have small anatomy and after a cough, cold or ear infection can suffer with fluid build up behind the ear drum affecting the transfer of sound. The hearing aids that work well for this condition transfer sound using bone conduction technology which can be expensive, up to £3000. A solution costing approximately £50 for a headset (which aims to be available to the public later in 2021) has been trialled, with the help of the Cambridge charity – The Raspberry Pi Foundation – as well as a free app called Hear Glue Ear (available now on google and android app stores) which aims to prevent children falling behind while they have glue ear, and help home management between appointments. This solution was researched during the Covid pandemic in 2020 when children were unable to access hearing services or grommet operations. The whole headset, microphone and app was sent by post to families who were then able to manage their child’s condition at home by using the app to check hearing and then using the headset to support hearing loss.
In the meantime due to its relevance to Covid the research has been published on the preprint server Medrixiv and European PubMed https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2021.01.21.21249496v1
Presenters: Dr Tamsin Holland Brown, Community Paediatrician
Dr Juan Mora, Consultant Audiovestibular Physician
Date: Monday, 4th October 2021
Time: 4.30 pm – 6 pm
Cost: Free
Online Platform: Zoom
Closing date: 30th September 2021
To apply for this webinar please book via the Eventbrite link below:
