Conference Programme

2023 Programme Overview

The BAA Scientific Programme Committee is delighted to offer you a conference line up, which we believe will provide two days of superb information and education that will have clinical impact.

Once again, we bring you three parallel tracks, with a mix of keynote presentations, invited speakers and free paper presentations, and a whole track of technology, product, and software updates.

Every year, we strive to ensure that you, our delegates, leave the event with a clear idea of how to implement what you have heard, when you return to your departments, practice, or career. We have underlined that commitment this year and have strong clinical leaders and professionals providing practical, best-practice, presentations in many areas. There really should be many sessions that will appeal and inform your practise.

Our Bamford Lecture will talk about the current issues in Paediatric Audiology, and the launch of the BAA’s Quality Improvement and Assurance scheme of work. Other invited speakers will cover adult assessment and rehabilitation, paediatric assessment, and outcome measures in paediatrics, change management, the application of CBT for Tinnitus, vestibular presentations including a history of vHIT and how we are using it. We will have a session dedicated to cochlear implants and bone conduction implants. We hope to welcome many of our CI Champions to these sessions, but they are there for everyone to learn from.

We are excited to welcome two international guest speakers to give keynote presentations this year, after a break during the Covid years. Dr Barbra Timmer, President of Audiology Australia and Lecturer in Audiology at the University of Queensland, will present the 2023 Adrian Davis lecture on Adult Audiology. And then we welcome Dr Angela Alexander. Dr Alexander specialises in helping patients with Auditory Processing Disorder and training her fellow audiologists to offer similar care. She is a hugely popular TEDx presenter; her presentation is a much watch.

Thursday 2^nd November

Following a welcome from President Samantha Lear, we are pleased to start the conference a little differently this year. We are offering you the John Bamford lecture first on the agenda, and have one of our own giving this key presentation. Claire Benton, BAA Board Director, will speak about the current issues facing UK Paediatric Audiology. With several reviews underway across the UK, we are starting to see a pattern of issues arising. Benton’s presentation will cover the review work that’s being completed, the issues arising, and she will launch a support scheme from the BAA, which aims to help departments with Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance.

After the first coffee break, we continue in the main hall with our second keynote lecture, delivered by Zoe Lord, Deputy Director, NHS Horizons. Lord is passionate about improving healthcare services for patients and staff, and will present a keynote lecture on supporting change and engaging your team. NHS Horizons is a specialist team within the Transformation Directorate of NHS England, that supports leaders of change, teams, organisations, and systems to think differently about large-scale change, improve collaboration, and accelerate change. They work with the health and care system, the public sector, and publicly-funded healthcare systems globally.

Following Lord’s presentation, we split into our parallel tracks. In the main hall is a session on paediatric audiology, with talks from Dr Anita Visram and Dr Gareth Smith. In the second track, a vestibular session takes place with Dr Petroc Sumner, Professor and Head of School in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University. David Jay will follow Dr Sumner on the practical aspects of vHIT.  Our Official Conference Partners provide the presentations for the third track, offering invaluable information on the latest technology, software, and programmes available for patients.

Following poster viewing, a spot of lunch and exhibition visiting, BAA members are invited to the Annual General Meeting. Hear from the President and Board of Directors about the past 12 months and the plans for the year ahead. There’s usually a bottle of bubbly hidden under someone’s chair as a surprise, to thank you for attending!

Once the AGM is finished, there is a 5-minute break to allow people to choose the next track. In the main hall, we have adult-focused audiology talks, with Dr Saima Rajasingam discussing the latest research on the proportions of older adults’ transitions through acknowledging their hearing loss to access treatment. Amy White will follow Rajasingam talking about hearing care in care homes. Finally, we have Ibrahim Almufarrij discussing the evidence base for adult audiology practices.

Running alongside the adult track are two sessions on Cochlear Implants and Bone Conduction Implants. These workshops are designed to offer further education to the BAA/BCIG Cochlear Implant Champions. However, these sessions are also open to all delegates who wish to learn more about this area of audiology provision.

Before our third keynote speaker takes the stage, we have two free paper presentations, which will be chosen from your submitted abstracts. Finishing the day in her amazingly energetic way will be Dr Angela Loucks Alexander, an APD expert from the Auditory Processing Institute in Australia. Dr Alexander is a hugely popular TEDx speaker, with more than one million people viewing her video.

When the day of presentations ends, we would like to invite you to join us again for a party night. We will be at the conference venue for our relaxed party – down in the basement! Your two-day ticket includes entrance, a welcome drink, and some food and fun!

Friday 3^rd November

The second day at conference starts a little later than the Thursday, to give you a few extra minutes in bed. We are delighted to have Rachel Belk present on genome testing at the conference. Rachel and colleagues previously presented a popular webinar on this topic, and we wanted to bring it to a wider conference audience. In track two, we will have a deaf audiologists talk about working as a hearing care professional with deafness or hearing loss. Both of these invited speakers will be followed by two free paper sessions.

Following the refreshment break, our fourth keynote speaker is Nathan Proudlove, Senior Lecturer in Operational Research and Management Science. Proudlove will talk to about Improving Service Quality. Two audiology professionals will follow him, looking at specific service quality issues in audiology. Premdeep Bhabra will talk about getting started with Quality Assurance, and Professor Chris Degg will be demystifying audit for us all. Both of these topics are being highlighted as issues in the ongoing review work.

In the parallel session, we have two experts in tinnitus to talk to us. Dr Eldre Beukes will discuss the application of CBT for tinnitus, and Dr James Jackson will present about engagement and dissatisfaction in tinnitus patients.

Our final afternoon session goes to one track for our awards and prize-giving session and our last conference keynote. Dr Barbra Timmer, Lecturer in Audiology at the University of Queensland and President of Audiology Australia, will present the Adrian Davis lecture on Adult Audiology. BAA President Samantha Lear will officially close the 2023 conference with her remarks.

As in previous years, we are delighted that our Official Conference Partners contribute to our programme with their own talks over the two days, details of which will be released soon.

Scroll down to read the speaker abstracts and biographies received so far.