The 4th Widex Congress of Paediatric Audiology took place on May 19th-21st 2006, in Ottawa, Canada. In all, fourteen speakers presented at the congress, which covered a broad range of interesting topics including infant speech perception, hair cell regeneration and management of hearing loss in the classroom.
Dr. Guy van Camp, professor of genetics at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, presented research suggesting that in developed countries, 50% of childhood deafness is attributed to genetic causes and the majority are not associated with other abnormalities. More than 100 genes have been localised of which more than 40 have been identified so far. The most significant is Connexin 26, which is a consequence of a single gene mutation and is easy to test for.
The congress provided excellent opportunities for networking among experts in the field of paediatric audiology. The next congress will take place in Amsterdam in 2008.
Download congress resume (pdf)
