#EUHA2023: Exceptional event, live in Nuremberg!

EUHA 2023 offered twenty-four expert lectures, a Knowledge Symposium, a roundtable discussion, and four tutorials as well as four Future Friday keynote lectures. 130 exhibitors from seventeen countries presented their innovations at the Industry Exhibition.

Even the run-up to the event saw several new features. For the first time, there was a partner country – Switzerland. The Congress opening was held on a stage in Hall 3A, directly at the Industry Exhibition.

Featuring topics such as Auracast and a review of one year of OTC devices in the US, the excellent scientific programme was greeted with much praise. Every day, a lecture or tutorial with an expert from Switzerland was offered. In addition, the participants of the roundtable discussion focused on "Changing hearing aid acoustics: The European perspective on the future of better hearing and intelligibility”, highlighting the Swiss perspective as well.

Opening the Knowledge Symposium, Christoph Schwob, advisory member of the Swiss audiological commission and member of the Paediatric Audiology professional group of the Federal Social Insurance Office, held a lecture on "Specialist shops will always be needed – or will hearing aids soon only be available online?”.

The lecture was followed by the award ceremony for the EUHA Sponsorship Award, with this year’s awardees being:

Sonja Tänzer, B.Sc. (1st prize): "Effectiveness of hearing aid fitting for patients with almost normal pure-tone audiograms to reduce tinnitus”. She looks at an exciting phenomenon known as "hidden hearing loss”. Sophie Jäker, B.Eng. (2nd prize): "Evaluation of measurement methods for speech intelligibility and listening effort in complex acoustic scenes”. This topic has potential for development. Marc Tielesch, B.Sc. (3rd prize): "Prescriptive fitting of hearing systems based on NAL-NL2 in comparison with a free-field fitting procedure based on MCL-based loudness adjustment”. In this process, customers are actively involved, which greatly increases acceptance.

Marianne Frickel was the recipient of the FDHA Foundation Award honouring her for her outstanding commitment to our line of business.

All those who wished to find out about the latest in hearing aid technology were in the right place at the Industry Exhibition. Current topics at the much-frequented exhibition stands included Bluetooth, new battery technology, low energy, AI, small RIC systems, and modern designs.

Future Friday was all about the future. Apart from four keynote presentations held in the afternoon, some seventy apprentices and pupils took part in a guided tour of the exhibition during the morning. A special lecture given by Peter Mestel focused on "Social media for young professionals”. His advice: young people should also get a LinkedIn account; it’s worth being active on this channel early on. And he regards WhatsApp as the strongest social media channel. The tool will also become increasingly important in customer communication.

The lectures held at the Congress will soon be available on the EUHA Learning Hub (euha.org). The EUHA will be sharing information on social media and keep media representatives up to date.

The 68th International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians is scheduled to be held in Hanover from 16 to 18 October 2024, featuring Denmark as a partner country.