Vote for better hearing – Supporters wanted for MHB project DIALOG

Neuruppin, 7 July 2026

The Institute of Biostatistics and Registry Research at the MHB applies for funding from the HörWerk Innovationscommunity. Everybody is invited to vote and thus ensure a successful application. Feedback from the general public will be considered in the steering committee’s decision on funding.

HörWerk brings research and practical expertise together in the joint development of innovative solutions for hearing aids. Projects close to practice help to improve fitting processes and thus to enhance the quality of life and well-being of people with impaired hearing.

The institute contributes to this endeavour with a project called DIALOG (Datenbasierte Individuelle Anpassung durch Logging zur Optimierung der Hörgeräteversorgung). It addresses a significant challenge: about half of all individuals with hearing problems do not use hearing aids. Moreover, about one quarter of hearing aid users do not make full use of the devices or have difficulties in daily life. These ca. 700,000 people are in the focus of DIALOG. Modern hearing aids store usage data (data logging) that can be read out by hearing care professionals. But little research has been done on how this data may help to identify problems and improve patient care.

DIALOG aims to find out which data various manufacturers provide, how such data can help in consulting, and how its use can be improved and standardized. For this purpose, usage data is compared with questionnaire answers from people with age induced hearing loss, their families and hearing care professionals. The idea is to document how individual hearing assistance can profit from data logging.

According to Prof. Michael Hauptmann, director of the institute, about 20 percent of hearing aid wearers encounter difficulties on a daily basis despite their hearing devices: “They have an increased risk of social isolation, depression, dementia and falls. In collaboration with four hearing acoustics businesses in Neuruppin we plan to evaluate data from about 450 individuals in order to see which problems occur and how to improve patient care. The focus is on usage data automatically collected by modern hearing aids.”

The team will require funds of more than € 200,000 to implement the project. If you wish to support the DIALOG project, you can register on the homepage of HörWerk and award points anonymously. Every rating takes only a few minutes and improves the chances of funding.

For registration and voting click here: https://hoerwerk.org