The National Acoustics Laboratory (NAL), a leading hearing research organization headquartered in New South Wales, Australia, has released its annual impact report for 2022. The report highlights the achievements and contributions of the organization to the hearing care industry over the past year and outlines its plans for 2023. The report showcases three studies conducted by NAL, which include Aboriginal caregivers’ perspectives on supporting young children’s hearing health and language development, better health messages to motivate people to seek hearing help, and difficulties in communication on video conferencing platforms.
NAL had 30 active projects throughout the year, with 22 of them commencing and 4,857 volunteers. The organization achieved 48 active international collaborations and multi-year alliances and received a grant of $452,714 (AUD) for key AI research. It has also entered a new agreement with the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care to undertake hearing research valued at $19.3 million over the next four years.
According to the report, NAL is leading the investigation on the benefits of devices other than hearing aids, such as Apple Airpods Pro, for people with hearing difficulties but minimally diagnosed hearing loss. The organization’s ongoing work continues to play a critical role in shaping the future of hearing healthcare.
Looking ahead in 2023, NAL’s research team is focusing on ensuring hearing technologies and care are personalized to meet the needs of each individual, identifying determinants of intervention success in ongoing longitudinal studies in children with hearing loss, research and development of more accessible, useful, and impactful technologies for people with hearing health conditions, and enabling translational research impact through growing external engagement, as well as managing the impact framework at NAL and its innovation agenda.
NAL has been providing research for the hearing healthcare community for 75 years and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health. To learn more about the organization’s achievements and contributions, as well as its plans for the future, the annual impact report for 2022 is available on its website.
Visit NAL’s website here to access the report.
Source: NAL
