7th Australasian Newborn Hearing Screening Conference, 17-18 May 2013

Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 01:00

logo; Australasian Newborn Hearing Screening Conference

The 7th Australasian Newborn Hearing Screening (ANHS) conference will be held in Auckland on 17 and 18 May 2013 – the first time it has been held in New Zealand.

The conference will bring together a wide range of professionals and perspectives involved in newborn hearing screening and early intervention, including medicine, audiology, education, therapy and parents.

Newborn hearing screening programmes are now established in New Zealand and across Australia. To reflect this, the focus of the conference is around sustainability and development, with the overarching theme of quality, nurturing, growing and enriching newborn hearing screening programmes.

Topics to be covered are expected to include:

  • cultural issues in screening
  • parental experiences at point of identification
  • cross collaboration and multidisciplinary team approaches to newborn screening
  • maintaining motivation and quality in established screening programmes
  • effective evidence based ways of delivering early intervention programmes.

The two keynote speakers have been confirmed:

  • Gwen Carr, Deputy Director of the NHS Newborn Hearing Screening and the NHS Newborn Infant and Physical Examination programmes in England. Gwen is also Deputy Director of the MRC Hearing and Communication Group and Hon Senior Research Associate at the UCL Ear Institute.
  • Dr Capi Wever, Chief Facial Plastic Surgeon, Department of Otolaryngology, Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and founder of the Nose and Face Foundation.

New Zealand joined the ANHS in 2007. It aims to foster the establishment, maintenance and evaluation of:

  • high-quality screening programmes for the early detection of permanent childhood hearing impairment throughout Australia and New Zealand
  • accessible and appropriate assessment and intervention for children identified with hearing loss
  • accessibility of information and support for parents of children identified with permanent childhood hearing loss
  • the establishment and maintenance of national databases relating to newborn hearing screening.

Conference committee chair, Professor Greg Leigh, says considerable progress has been made in establishing screening programmes in Australia and New Zealand.

“However, it is acknowledged further work is needed to ensure standards of delivery are maintained while also focusing on continuing improvement and development.”

Work is underway with the New Zealand Audiological Society and the Australian Society of Audiology to have the conference accredited to enable delegates to receive continuing professional development points.

See the conference website for further information.

Page last updated: 08 November 2012