The Oticon Foundation will launch an innovative hearing loss awareness initiative that aims to increase public awareness and understanding of hearing loss and its impact. The foundation has awarded a grant to the nonprofit Ida Institute to facilitate the global project.

The Ida Institute, an independent educational institute, will engage the global network of hearing health care specialists, students, patients and families and the general public in an online idea-generating campaign. The open innovation process is designed to identify the best projects from around the world to encourage people to take action, change public perception, and generate better understanding of hearing loss.

"It is my wish that the end result of this idea competition is a greater public understanding of hearing loss and the importance of taking action when one has a hearing loss. Who would ever think of not getting glasses and walking through life blind?" said Niels Boserup, chair of the the Oticon Foundation, which sponsors social and educational initiatives for researchers, hearing care professionals and the general public. "We look forward to calling upon the resources of the institute's extensive global network to help us capture the best thinking and the most effective approaches to increase public understanding of hearing loss and its impact not only on people with hearing loss but on their families, friends and communities."

Lise Lotte Bundesen, managing director of the Ida Institute, stated, "We are pleased that the Oticon Foundation has again provided the support for an Ida Institute-driven initiative that will enable us to foster a greater awareness and understanding of hearing loss. Our goal is to empower people to take action on hearing loss. We know from our collaborative work in Ida seminars, workshops and other knowledge-sharing initiatives that our global network can bring an incredible amount of experience, knowledge and creativity to this exciting new project. Extending our collaborative efforts to the general public will give us even more opportunity to collect unique public awareness-building and educational ideas from around the world."

The Oticon Foundation will join with the Ida Institute to officially launch the initiative during AudiologyNOW! The annual meeting of the American Academy of Audiology will be held next month in Boston.

Hearing and health care professionals, individuals and organizations will be invited to submit beneficial, achievable, constructive and ready-to-go ideas and campaign messages that have the potential to build worldwide awareness and educate the general public about hearing loss. The open call for submissions will consider a wide range of topics that address hearing loss understanding, acceptance and management.

Established in 2007 with a grant from the Oticon Foundation, the Ida Institute seeks to foster a better understanding of the human dynamics associated with hearing loss. By serving as a catalyst for knowledge sharing and the development of innovative and practical tools, the institute, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, assists hearing care professionals in helping people who are hearing impaired address the physical, psychological and social challenges of hearing loss. For more information, visit www.idainstitute.com.