NDR TV reports about afh pediactric acoustics training
As part of a program for the „Schleswig-Holstein Magazin“ a camera team of the NDR (North Germany Broadcasting) accompanied the practical exercises with children, which were part of a pediatric acoustic training at the Academy of Hearing Acoustics. The TV coverage was announced by an online report (NDR-Online-Bericht) covering this year’s „Tag gegen Lärm“ (International Noise Awareness Day), the 27th April 2022. The program stresses the importance of early care for children diagnosed with a hearing impairment, its challenges and how hearing aid professionals are prepared to meet these.
The camera team had the opportunity to watch the participants of the training course, while they were practicing with children aged from six months up to four years. In interviews with afh lecturers, reporter Naïs Baier learned a lot about the sensitive ears of children and also about special, playful hearing tests and measuring methods, which allow pediatric acousticians to make accurate assessments of the hearing and the degree of a potential hearing impairment. Parents of current and former test persons, among them a 5-year-old child with a treated unilateral hearing loss, talked about the importance of hearing aid professionals who specialize in the care of children.
About 500,000 children in Germany have a hearing impairment. Approximately 1-2 of every 1,000 newborns come into the world with a hearing defect. For their development, especially their language acquisition, it is of vital importance that they are treated as early as possible. All over Germany, there are currently 1,000 hearing aid professionals specialized on the hearing of children. The afh offers regular pediatric acoustic training courses. The next afh “Pediatric Blended Learning” course starts 15th August 2022. Moreover, a Pediatric training course in English from 1st to 5th November 2022 for international participants is planned during the „International Summer Academy“at the afh.