October is National Audiology Month

November 7th, 2016

While October is usually associated with beautiful fall colours, pumpkin flavoured coffee and Halloween, it is also an opportunity to celebrate National Audiology Awareness Month!

As audiologists, we are constantly reminded of how hearing loss can negatively affect communication between individuals and their connections to society. The work we do and the services we provide are essential to helping those who may feel isolated at home, behind in school or are suffering in silence.

October is our opportunity to promote what we do as audiologists! During this month, think about how you can advance the awareness of audiology to those around you. Could you give a talk on noise and hearing protection at a local elementary school? Can you schedule a lunch with a local clinic to discuss the prevalence of ear infections at this time of year? Have you contacted your local MLA or MP to stress the importance of supporting audiology services in our communities?

To aid in your efforts, CAA has provided a number of tools posted to our website

As well as these tools for CAA Members

  • CAA presentation to Family Practitioners on hearing loss and the role of Audiologists
  • Call to Action Hearing Loss Poster #1
  • Call to Action Hearing Loss Poster #2

We hope these materials will help you promote Audiology during October and beyond.

Best of luck and enjoy Audiology Awareness month!

The goal of National Audiology Month is to offer to audiologists a special occasion to promote and support the profession of audiology in Canada. To help you promote audiology in your community we have posted the submissions to the 2016 annual Canadian Academy of Audiology (CAA) University Cup Challenge. Students graduating from audiology programs across Canada were asked to develop methods to promote audiology to the public.

Université de Montréal – CAA University Cup Challenge Winner 2016

The Université de Montréal students created this video to promote the field of audiology by answering the question: What is an Audiologist?  Follow this link to watch the video.

University of British Columbia

UBC’s submission this year was a poster called “The Silent Sound Festival”. The students at UBC chose a poster format for this promotional material as their goal was to promote hearing healthcare to the “pub and festival crowd”. The students also suggested that a QR code could be added to the poster to create an interactive feature.  The code could link to a webpage where visitors could play popular songs and experience how those songs would sound with different kinds of hearing loss. This QR code could also lead to a website that provides more information on hearing protection and testing. Click here to view this poster.

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie students wrote an article using the description of the day to day activities of local DJs to highlight opportunities to prevent hearing loss. The Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia), The Coast, and The Dalhousie Gazette all showed interest in the article! The students used the real life story telling technique as a means of relating better with the public. Please follow this link to view the article by the students from Dalhousie University.

Please share these links or draw inspiration from them and help promote audiology in your community!