MTÜ Eesti Meeleelundite
Rehabilitatsiooni Keskus AUDIERE
(MTÜ EMERK Audiere,
äriregistri kood 80200262)

2012

Audiere, in cooperation with the Estonian Non-Profit Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society and the Tartu University Hospital Ear Clinic, held a seminar at the Linkberg auditorium in Tartu on 29 March 2012 to promote the field audiology. The keynote speaker at the event was Dr Kai Uus from the University of Manchester and its patron was Jüri Jaanson. In addition, an overview of modern audio-technological developments was presented by Petra Nolle-Schling.

The patron of the event was Jüri Jaanson.

The keynote speaker dr. Kai Uus

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7500 euros raised for children with hearing impediments

PRESS RELEASE 25 January 2012

A campaign was held in December in which everyone who bought a TV or computer form any Elion store had the chance to donate 20 euros towards the acquisition of cochlear implants for children with hearing impediments. Around 400 people made donations, with 7500 euros being raised – which can now be used to help up to children.

Each year around 10 children are born without hearing, but they can be helped with cochlear implants. Most of the cost of these implants is covered by the Health Insurance Fund, but those who need one still have to come up with around 3000 euros of their own – which is too high a price for many.

During the campaign held in December, everyone who purchased a TV or computer from Elion could choose whether to claim a gift for themselves or to donate the value of the gift towards the acquisition of implants. The size of each donation was 20 euros.

"I’m happy to say that there are a lot of kind-hearted people out there – around 400 of them – who were willing to donate the money,” said Valdur Laid. “A big thank you to all of them! We’ll be passing on the donations to Audiere, a non-profit organisation involved in obtaining implants for those who need them.”.

Cooperation between Elion and Audiere has been ongoing for some time. In spring last year, a Mother’s Day concert was held on Town Hall Square in Tallinn at which donations towards implants were also collected. The money raised at that event was used to help two children who are now able to hear.

Avo-Rein Tereping from Tallinn University and Sandra Vill from Tartu University Hospital Ear Clinic
were awarded the Audiology Scholarship for conducting a study of the hearing acuity of Estonian schoolchildren.

The aim of the study is to get an overview of hearing acuity and possible hearing loss among

Estonian schoolchildren. For this, an audiometric screening of Estonian schoolchildren will be

conducted. The target group are 9th grade students. The test group consist of 1000 school students.

Prior to the test, students will be given a 45-minute lecture on the causes of hearing loss and the

risks of hearing loss from listening to music with headphones and loud music in general. The lecture

will also go over general hearing hygiene. All test subjects will receive a non-personalised

(anonymous) written assessment of their hearing acuity as feedback. If the hearing loss is greater

than 30 dB, the parent will be notified.

The study will follow all requirements related to human studies. The personal data of the subject will

not be recorded. Only generalised and statistically processed data will be used for publication.

Descriptive statistical methods will be used to analyse the results of the screening test. The results

will be published in the journal Eesti Arst and in some international journals.

The study has been approved by the Ministry of Education and Research.

The study has been postponed due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On December 6 the Supervisory Board of the Aadu Luukas Foundation nominated the non-profit organisation Audiere to be one of the six nominees of the Missionary Prize of the Aadu Luukas Foundation in 2012.

This highly valued recognition is accompanied by a monetary award – 6,400 euros – that we have decided to allocate to the Audiology Scholarship Fund. Pursuant to the statutes of the Missionary Prize the award is given to a person or organisation that stands out as a promoter of the balanced development of Estonian society and our nation’s quality of life. By educating young agile audiologists we can fulfil this aim in a manner worthy of the award.

We are grateful to the honourable Supervisory Board for their trust and recognition, and we would like to thank all those who nominated us and all our partners and everyone who takes an active interest in our activities for their continuous support.