AG Bell Virtual Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposia and Fall Forums 2025-2029

AG Bell’s annual AG Bell Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium in 2025 through 2029 will each include four keynote presentations that focus on the sharing of high-impact research that will impart a fuller understanding of specific issues related to childhood hearing loss and practical applications. In addition to its annual symposia, AG Bell plans to initiate a new annual offering, the AG Bell Fall Forum beginning in 2025 to be continued through 2029. The primary goal of each offering type (symposia, fall forum) is to inform researchers, clinicians, other professionals, family members, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and other stakeholders of the benefits of various interventions to improve outcomes related to hearing loss such as auditory function, receptive and expressive speech and language, cognition, literacy, social and emotional development, education, family function and health and well-being. Specific aims for the symposia and fall forums include: 1) To provide clinicians/researchers and students with clinically and educationally-relevant research in oral (presentations) and written (digital proceedings) forms that are applicable to immediate and future interventions that impact outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing through four keynote presentations in an annual virtual two-day symposium. 2) To provide the AG Bell national and international community and the general public with the opportunity to learn about evidence-based “hot topics” in the field through participation in a three-hour annual virtual AG Bell Fall Forum in the PATH learning management system AG Bell uses for the symposium. This content will be provided at a level that is targeted to an eclectic audience of parents, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and professionals who conduct research and provide services. Pre-reading materials will be provided to attendees. Each fall forum will be designed to optimize opportunities for discussion between the presenter and attendees regarding presented research that will lead to “take-away” applications to future research and clinical and educational settings. The five symposia will include keynote presenters who will present (their) research on the following diverse topics, all of which are related and impactful to children who are deaf or hard of hearing, their families, and the professionals who work with them: 2025: 1) Predicting spoken language development in the context of parent-child interaction; 2) Disparities in treatment and outcomes; 3) Long-term communication outcomes in children with cochlear implants who received them younger than age 12 months; 4) Early language and literacy acquisition; 2026: 1) Acoustic hearing preservation after cochlear implantation; 2) Literacy development of preschoolers; 3) Treating the whole child: when it’s more than hearing; 4) Using a national child hearing outcomes registry to help children reach their best potential; 2027: 1) Considerations of spiral ganglion health: from genomics to gene therapy; 2) The impact of auditory access on the development of speech perception; 3) Early language learning in children with cochlear implants; 4) Predictors of vocabulary outcomes in children from Spanish-speaking families; 2028: 1) Non-syndromic hearing loss (like GJB2): where are we now and what does the future look like?; 2) The impact of early auditory experiences on behavioral and neural outcomes of children; 3) Development of sensitivity to acoustic modulation in infants who use cochlear implants; 4) Factors associated with reading comprehension in adolescents; 2029: 1) Considerations when working with children with syndromic hearing loss (e.g., Usher, Pendred, Waardenburg) d) Predictors of listening-related fatigue in adolescent hearing loss; 3) Emotional regulation; 4) Vestibular and balance function Each of five fall forums will feature extended learning on hot topics in hearing loss. These forums will include relevant recent research, evidence-based practices, information on innovative projects or trials, known and potential impacts on children and their families, and relevance to both the professionals who provide care and education to them, and those who conduct research. Registrants will be provided with pre-reading materials prior to a three-hour fall forum related to the hot topic chosen within each of the following content areas and will be invited to participate in interactive discussion with presenters: 2025: Audiology 2026: Gene Therapy 2027: Family Support 2028: Mild to Severe Hearing Loss 2029: Cochlear Implants