NIHL in Children Conference Goals

• To disseminate basic, applied and translational research related to the prevention of NIHL in children and adolescents with an emphasis on adolescent workers.
  
  
• To provide a friendly, cross-disciplinary forum to exchange scientific knowledge, critiques and practical experience while providing a forum to explore cross-disciplinary and cross-agency mutually beneficial collaborations.  Discussions may fuel the motivation and creativity of researchers working on hearing loss prevention and inspire others not currently involved in the area.
  
  
• To engage new researchers and graduate students in the exploration of differing points of view and ideas not readily available in textbooks and to provide opportunities to interact with individuals working in the laboratory and the field.
  
  
• To identify research gaps and research needs to further the advancement of hearing loss prevention programs targeting children and adolescents, both prior to entering the workforce and upon entry into the workforce.  Additionally, this will contribute toward the future development of consensus statements and public message content guidelines used across agencies and venues for  hearing loss prevention programs.  Problem identification may be supplemented with problem resolution suggestions through structured working group activities as part of the conference.
  
  
• To produce a series of scientific presentations that will be  published and available to others not in attendance at the conference.
  
  
• To provide a public scientific outreach opportunity for participating scientists and programs.