Hearing impairment is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the Netherlands, Europe and even worldwide. Due to the ageing of our societies, the percentage of adults with hearing loss in the Netherlands will increase from 14% now to 45% in 2025. People need to work longer and hence, the number of hearing impaired adults in the workforce will increase considerably.
The program of the section Ear & Hearing of the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of the VU University medical center is “Auditory Functioning and Participation in society” which includes four themes:
- Listening effort & Cognition
- Epidemiology of hearing loss
- Speech Recognition
- Innovation & Evaluation of hearing healthcare
All research projects are embedded in the program Quality of Care of the Amsterdam Public Health (APH) research institute.
