Australian Hearing Hub celebrates Hearing Awareness Week
To celebrate Hearing Awareness Week (Aug. 24 – 30), the partner organisations of the Australian Hearing Hub (AHH) hosted an open house event on Saturday, August 23.
As 1 in 6 Australians are impacted by hearing loss, the open house focused on healthy hearing, with opportunities for the local community to explore the amazing features of the North Ryde facility, arrange free hearing screening tests and a range of other hearing-related services offered within the hub.
The day was designed for all ages, with everything from a jumping castle to tours of the hub’s anechoic chamber, a purpose-built room not often open to the public, where sound is completely absorbed to provide true silence.
As this event is one of the first for Hearing Awareness week, The Hon Jillian Skinner MP will open the festivities at midday. A range of short talks will also explore different topics, including stories from local ‘Hearing heroes’, such as Macquarie University student Leah McConnell.
Leah’s journey with hearing loss started early: when she was 11 months old, Leah and her family were hit with the news that Leah was profoundly deaf in both ears. She was enrolled into an early intervention program and started a hearing aid trial, before receiving her first cochlear implant at four years of age.
It was still an uphill struggle for Leah to be accepted by the hearing world, but she was determined not to let her hearing loss place any limitations on what she could achieve. Now, she is studying at Macquarie University to become a teacher, and shared her inspirational story at the event.
Hot topics covered a range of hearing-related talks during the open house:
- How to protect your hearing at home, work and play
- The Interactive Ear: Hearing loss and hearing technology made easy
- Dealing with child and adolescent anxiety
- Key ideas in early language development
- How to help kids with dyslexia/reading difficulties
Other highlights of the celebration included
- free hearing screening tests for adults and children;
- volume safety testing on music players and headphones; and
- free activities for children, including a jumping castle, face painting and more.
The Australian Hearing Hub
The Australian Hearing Hub unites researchers, educators, clinicians and innovators with expertise in audiology, speech pathology, cognitive and language sciences, psychology, nanofabrication and engineering sciences.
Macquarie University’s Australian Hearing Hub is a global leader in speech, hearing and language research. The Australian Hearing Hub leverages the university’s extensive international expertise in language sciences and cognitive sciences research, and in clinical research and professional training teams in audiology and speech language pathology.
Program: Master of Clinical Audiology
Location: North Ryde, Sydney, New South Wales
Semester intake: February
Duration: 2 years
Application deadline: October 31, 2014
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