HEAR-IT

The School’s Health E-Learning and Media (HELM) group have played a key part in developing a series of easy-to-use, interactive video tutorials offering handy tips and advice in a bid to increase the chances of success for people using their hearing aids for the first time and make the most of their device. If they are successful, the tutorials could be routinely given to patients receiving hearing aids on the NHS within the next three years. The project is being led by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing (NBRUH) and brings together expertise from researchers and leading clinicians from The University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

More than 30 hearing aid users participated in creative workshops to develop the storyboards for the video tutorials that can be played on a DVD player, computer or via the internet providing advice on how best to use hearing aids and communicate with family and friends. The tutorials reinforce information and advice given at the clinic appointment and include information, animations, videos and powerful messages from users of hearing aids about their personal experiences. At the end of each tutorial there is an interactive quiz so the patients can review what they have learned.  The team has received a £235,000 NIHR Research for Patient Benefit grant and is now in the process of evaluating the potential benefits of the tutorials with 200 patients.

For the full news story see the University website.