Lancaster’s Psychology Department, in collaboration with the Faculty of Health and Medicine and the Centre for Ageing Research, hosted a successful public engagement event, which showcased the latest research into age-related hearing loss and brain health being conducted at the University.

The “Sound Minds” event – which took place on the 11^th November and was organised by Dr Helen Nuttall, Dr Kate Slade, Jessica Pepper, and Maisie Dransfield – had three aims:

1) to attract some of the local area’s older residents to engage with the University and diversify the future participants of research;

2) to co-create the future research focus on hearing and brain health;

3) engage in meaningful knowledge exchange with members of the public.

The event was incredibly popular amongst its target demographic and was fully booked, with over 40 eager attendees showing up to learn more about hearing and the brain.

The day began with a short introduction from each of the leads, followed by a fun myth-busting quiz on hearing loss, its impact on cognition, and its association with dementia, with an emphasis on looking after our hearing in older age to improve communication, protect quality of life, and support healthy ageing. Attendees were then invited to participate on a tour of the neuroscience research facilities available at Lancaster, before getting the opportunity to get hands-on with some demonstrations of hearing and brain experiments conducted by PhD students, including hearing assessments, a VR experience simulating what hearing loss is like led by the ISS Innovation Hub, a demonstration of how electroencephalography (EEG) can capture brain waves, and the chance to get their balance measured using a PROTXX wearable sensor.

The afternoon session revolved around Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement activities, which included facilitated discussions amongst the participants on how they felt hearing loss might impact older people, how technology can assist those struggling with their hearing, and the areas of research that they felt were the most important for researchers to pursue to improve the quality of life for older adults with hearing loss. The outcomes of these discussions were collected by the academics who will use them to help tailor their future research to increase impact amongst those whom it is intended to help.

Attendees of the event found Sound Minds both enjoyable and engaging, with visitor Pam Heatley commenting: “I found it very interesting and thought-provoking, and I’ve learnt that there are so many aspects to brain function that I hadn’t realised were interconnected. The discussions that we had as a group were particularly illuminating, and it was great to have the opportunity to talk to the academics and PhD students about their research”.

On the success of the day, organiser Dr Helen Nuttall commented: “We felt incredibly passionate about organising the Sound Minds event on hearing, ageing, and brain health as we wanted to demystify research and welcome a diverse range of older adults into our research practice, ensure that our future research priorities are co-created with members of the Lancashire community, and share knowledge widely to ensure that research findings can reach the people who could benefit from them.”