In order for hearing care to be open it needs to be:
There are many things, apparent or otherwise, that hinder choice in hearing care. Audira aims to identify these and present a pragmatic and holistic approach to addressing the issues. Where necessary, it will draw the distinction between "pseudo choice" - where the illusion of choice is given to a service user - and "real choice" where the choice really does rest with the service user.
To answer some of these questions it will be necessary to explore issues that are often are taken "as read".
For example, what is hearing care? Where do attitudes come from? What should be provided by the state? Does language affect choice?
Audira continuously asks the questions:
Audira is most interested in looking at "systems" and their effect on attitudes and accessibility.
By participating in the Audira » Think Tank for Hearing you are agreeing to abide by these Guidelines for Participation to ensure Audira's open and transparent spirit, and that all discussions and contributions are carried out in a non-partisan, non-confrontational way.
We are working together to realise a future that we may have to live with. So always consider the impact your words and actions will have on others, both in the present and in the future.
Participants bring with them their own unique perspective and experiences. Sometimes you may not agree with someone. Sometimes you may even get frustrated when someone won't see your point of view. But never let this get the better of you; remember to respect them and demonstrate this with good manners and good behaviour. Audiramust remain an environment where everyone feels comfortable participating without feeling threatened or demeaned. Remember, our words are on display to the world.
The underlying principles of Audira is openness and transparency. There is no place within Audira for hidden agendas, ulterior motives or selfish ambition. We must be prepared to work together towards the greater objective, even if we find ourselves collaborating with people we might normally seek to avoid in other circumstances; it is the ideas that are important, not the personalities behind them. Working together means allowing others to modify our ideas, or finding the good in the ideas of others and improving on them.
Most people are protective of their own ideas, philosophies and perspectives. Sometimes this means that we cannot see the value in another's ideas, particularly if it doesn't fit in with our own. Participation means being prepared to step back and see it from each other's points of view. Before disagreeing with something, work out where your own motives are coming from and ask how valid they are.
If you do disagree with someone, or believe they have missed the point, first look for the common ground. If you do need to disagree, you must be able to explain clearly why you disagree and offer an alternative.
Finally, remember what Audira is about. Ask yourself whether your contribution is "on topic" and whether it is in keeping with the Aims of Audira.
Hearing Care is bigger than any one individual or an organisation. We each bring our own unique perspectives and set of experiences, and collaboration enables us to see the bigger picture.
Because together we can work towards the common objective of creating a new social norm for hearing care.
Our common goal is to create a new social norm where the majority of people respect their hearing and do what they can to keep their hearing working at its optimum throughout life, mindful of the role their hearing plays in their own lives and in society, and confident that society will support them should a residual reduction in their hearing put them at a disadvantage.
You should, if you have any interest – professional or otherwise – in hearing care, we invite you to participate – whether you are a hearing care professional, a service-user, a hearing care provider, a supplier or manufacturer, a consumer interest group, a policymaker or even just an interested observer.
The only qualification you need to participate in this online Think Tank is that you follow the Guidelines for Participation.
A central principle of Audira is transparency, so you'll need to register and log in if you wish to leave a comment or contribute an article.
Audira is a web-based think tank dedicated to shaping the future of hearing care in a way that creates a society in which the majority:
Audira takes the form of a non-partisan "collective intelligence", harnessing the power of the web to bring together individuals and organisations from different backgrounds where they can present ideas and discuss them freely and openly with the shared objective of changing society's attitudes towards hearing care.
All content is transparent, and released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License to ensure the greatest scope for content to be used to foster the aims of Audira.
Participation is open to anyone with an interest in hearing care and is willing to adhere to the spirit of Audira. For more information, please see Participate.
Instead Audira is an open forum interested in looking at the "bigger picture" of hearing care – how systems, individuals and organisations interact with one another and what the effect is.
As a non-partisan, non-profit "collective intelligence" it endorses no one view and all ideas and arguments presented rise and fall by their own merit, providing they are conveyed within spirit of Audira The more diverse the participants, the truer a picture can be gained that takes into consideration the widest range of views and opinions.
Audira was founded in 2010 by Curtis Alcock, a hearing care professional in the United Kingdom, as a vehicle for bringing together like minded individuals and organisations who all had the same goal: to instigate change in society's relationship to hearing care, rather than either assuming that change could not happen or that things would change by themselves "in their own good time".
Many of the issues faced by hearing care in his own country and all over the world were similar, yet the tendency has been for those involved in hearing care to engage in looking for things to compete with one another over at the expense of the common goal: to see hearing care become the norm in society rather than the exception.
"By all means we should be competing with each other on our differentiators, but not on those goals we share. When we compete on those, we dilute our message to society, limit our influence and confuse the consumer. And confusion leads to inaction."
By working together "with a unified purpose and unified message" hearing care increases its influence on society through a united voice.
Audira means "s/he will hear".
The word is taken from Interlingua, a language specially developed to combine a simple, mostly regular grammar with a vocabulary common to the widest possible range of languages. It seemed apt to use this as it reflects the spirit of Audira, bringing together the widest range of people and giving them the means to work together towards a common goal.