After its premiere in 2010, the EUHA Sponsorship Award was presented for the second time.
After its premiere in 2010, the EUHA Sponsorship Award was presented for the second time. At this year’s International Congress of Hearing Aid Acoustics, three graduates were given prizes for their diploma theses with relevance for hearing aid acoustics.
The 2011 EUHA Sponsorship Award was awarded to Regina Neubauer from Pegnitz, Michaela Trapp from Lübeck, and Martin Böttcher from Switzerland.
The collaborative thesis by Regina Neubauer (“Untersuchung verschiedener Sprachtestverfahren im Störgeräusch hinsichtlich der Vergleichbarkeit für die Hörsystemversorgung” [Analysis of different speech-in-noise tests with regard to comparability in fitting hearing systems]) and Michaela Trapp (“Vergleich verschiedener Sprachtestverfahren im Störgeräusch hinsichtlich Handhabbarkeit, Durchführung und Praktikabilität im Prozess der Hörsystemanpassung” [Comparison of different speech tests with regard to manageability, implementation, and practicability during the process of fitting hearing systems] was awarded 1,500 euros each. “These theses deal with a highly topical issue with immense practical significance,” as EUHA board member Eva Keil-Becker put it in her laudation.
Martin Böttcher, who was presented the EUHA Sponsorship Award worth 1,000 euros, examined “Messgenauigkeit herstellerspezifischer In-situ-Audiogramm-Methoden gegenüber klassischen In-situ-Messungen” [Measuring accuracy of manufacturer-specific in-situ audiogram methods compared to classical in-situ measurements]. “As one can see from the title, this is a very sophisticated paper,” Ms Keil-Becker said.
Given the fact that the number of people with impaired hearing is on the increase, hearing aid industry is a growth market. The quality of hearing systems continues to approximate normal hearing. As a scientific association of European hearing aid acousticians, the EUHA has set up the Sponsorship Award which is open to students having completed their studies at a university or university of applied sciences in the course of the past two years. The prize is given to prospective hearing aid acousticians for outstanding theses with special relevance to hearing aid acoustics, innovative content that can be practically applied by members of the trade, and potential for development. “The theses that were given the prize this year are important pillars to maintain the high quality level prevalent in hearing aid acoustics in Germany,” Eva Keil-Becker emphasised in her speech.
With their theses, Regina Neubauer, Michaela Trapp, and Martin Böttcher earned the degree of “A.E.A.-Europa-Hörakustiker” [A.E.A. Hearing Aid Acoustician] from the Academy of Hearing Aid Acoustics (AHA).
The 2011 jury was made up of Siegrid Meier and Reimer Rohweder from the AHA, and EUHA executive board members Martin Blecker, Eva Keil-Becker, and Dirk Köttgen.
