More than 150 professionals dedicated to improving ear and hearing care in underserved communities attended the 15th Annual Coalition for Global Hearing Health (CGHH) Conference on Friday and Saturday at the MGH Institute. This year’s event was truly global, with participants from 28 countries on hand to explore the topic, Advancing Hearing Health in Low-Resourced Countries. 

Bridget Perry, Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, welcomed the attendees. 

“That diversity reflects exactly what makes this coalition so special — a global network of professionals dedicated to equity, innovation, and compassionate care,” noted Perry.

The CGHH fosters connections, advances research, and promotes inclusive, sustainable solutions for ear and health worldwide. Since 2010, CGHH has convened annual conferences that unite clinicians, educators, researchers, advocates, and community leaders from around the world to share strategies, technologies, and best practices that improve access to hearing healthcare in low- and middle-income countries. The organization’s mission is to enhance global ear and hearing health through advocacy, education, empowerment, and equitable care. 

“These are our major tenets of advocacy and impacting policy, encouraging best practice, and really equipping and empowering," said conference speaker James Saunders, an ear, nose, and throat physician at Dartmouth Health. "Then under equipping and empowering, we feel like the cornerstone is really bringing people from all parts of the world together in our conferences.”

Conference discussions centered on audiology and technology innovations, empowering families, training and education focused on cultural competency and income disparity, best practices within the field, and advocacy and community engagement. Sessions emphasized collaboration, sustainability, and the importance of integrating local and cultural contexts into hearing health initiatives.

King Chung, a professor in the Communications Sciences and Disorders Department, was the principal investigator on an R13 Conference Grant from National Institute of Communication and Other Disorders (NIDCD) with co-PI, Dr. Saunders. The R13 grant allocated more than 60% of its budget to support 20 international travel grant recipients and 7 US student travel grant recipients to attend and present at the meeting. 

Nara Gavini, Associate Provost for Research at the MGH Institute, who attended the conference, emphasized the significance of the NIH-supported event in advancing the Institute’s global health mission. “Securing NIH funding for this conference reflects the MGH Institute’s growing leadership in global health research and collaboration,” said Gavini. “We are proud to host a forum that not only brings together experts from across the world but also sparks meaningful partnerships that will have a tangible impact on communities with limited access to hearing health care. This event embodies our commitment to bridging science, education, and service, ensuring that discoveries made here translate into sustainable, equitable solutions worldwide. The energy and ideas shared at this conference will ripple far beyond the MGH Institute campus, strengthening the global effort to make hearing health an attainable right for all.”

The conference attendees have commented on how beautiful the conference space was, and they were very much energized by the conference to advocate, to facilitate, and to provide much needed hearing health care services in different corners of the world.  

“We are thankful for the collaboration that went into organizing this event that brought together a global community of hearing health researchers, clinicians, educators and advocates,” said Laura Plummer, the Dean of School of Rehabilitation and Health Sciences.