Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Comm4CHILD (Communication for Children with Hearing Impairment to optimise Language Development)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-02-01 do 2022-01-31
Despite the context linked to Covid-19 pandemic, significant progress has been achieved in each scientific work package. Progress were made to understand the biological, mechanistic, processes underlying the outcome variations at the peripheral and central level in individuals with HI following therapy (work package 1), to explore various means to make communication easier and help children with HI to optimise their cognitive resources for interaction and learning (work package 2) and to evaluate how individual language and learning resources affect spoken and written communication and facilitate daily-life interaction according to the opportunities and constraints of the communicative environment (work package 3). All ESRs have conducted thorough literature reviews that allowed them to develop state-of-the art approaches to address their research questions and many of them have already conducted pilot studies. The preliminary data are promising with regard to the objectives the project.
So far, the ESRs made 47 communications to the scientific and/or industrial community, including 27 posters and 20 oral communications in national and international workshops and conferences. Several outreach activities were made to the general public, members of the deaf and hard of hearing communities, as well as practitioners in the rehabilitation network. On top of that, fact sheets were published on the website in January 2022.
In terms of strengthening European innovation capacity, Comm4CHILD contributes to the future leadership in the provision of hearing health care that will reduce the socio-economic burden of poorly treated HI at European level. The ESRs will become a team of “paediatric hearing care entrepreneurs” of the future, with a huge potential for (1) innovating and contributing to worldwide commercialization of new hearing technologies and new care solutions and services, (2) strengthening the hearing healthcare industry, and (3) creating new jobs in the EU. This in turn will ensure a better use of current and future hearing device technology, thanks to individually-based clinical practices and intervention strategies. This work will lead to new strategies and policies in rehabilitation of children with HI, and interventions that address their multiple challenges.