Successful Start: Inspiring First HörHanse Day in Lübeck

On June 07, the Lübeck media docks transformed into a meeting point for more than 100 experts and interest parties all around the topic “hearing”. Under the motto “Quality of Hearing”, the conference offered a diverse platform for exchange about new findings and the latest developments in the field of clinical practice, auditive cognition, hearing acoustics, audiology as well as musicians’ health.

The project HörHanse funded by the Damp foundation, aims at enabling people with hearing impairments to have a reliable acoustic communication with the highest possible hearing comfort. The Academy for Hearing Acoustic (aft) contributes with its comprehensive know-how and strengthens the position of Luebeck as nationwide pioneer in the field of hearing acoustics.

The keynote speeches of Prof. Dr. Nicole Wetzel and Prof. Dr. Stefan Lauter were special highlights of this conference and offered interesting insights into their latest research projects on the hearing ability of children and older people. Just as impressive was Prof. Dr. Nicola Strenzke’s lecture on gene therapy to restore the hearing ability, as well as Prof. Dr. Eckart Altenmüller’s speech on music-induced neuro-plasticity and its effect on hearing.
The event offered profound insights into current research projects from Luebeck. The University of Applied Science, the Lübeck University and the German Hearing Aid Institute presented their joint project on how hearing system evaluation can be facilitated and integrated into everyday life by means of virtual hearing system evaluation. Dr. Daniela Hollfelder from the university hospital Schleswig-Holstein reported on new approaches at the ENT outpatient clinic regarding patient rehabilitation after cochlea implants.

The conference was concluded with a poster session, during which established but also young scientists, presented their works and had an intensive exchange. This networking opportunity and the inter-disciplinary dialogue reflected the essence of the HörHanse: the pooling of diverse skills and perspective to improve the quality of hearing and the hearing experience.
The first day of HörHanse was a big success and shows impressively how synergies of expertise can create added value for the hearing society, participants and the organisation team already look forward to the next time this inspiring conference takes place.