Event Preview
Irish hearing care professionals will gather in Dublin on 26 September for a day of education, connection and fresh thinking about the future of audiology.
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Date Saturday, 26 September 2026 |
Venue Castleknock Hotel, Dublin 15 |
Host Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists |
This September, Ireland’s hearing care community will welcome one of the field’s most energetic voices in auditory neuroscience. Dr. Keith N. Darrow, PhD, CCC-A, a Harvard Medical School and MIT trained neuroscientist, clinical audiologist, researcher, educator and author, will deliver the keynote address at the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (ISHAA) Autumn Education Day and Annual General Meeting.
The event takes place on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at Castleknock Hotel in Dublin 15. For professionals committed to evidence based hearing care, lifelong learning and better outcomes for patients, Dr. Darrow’s appearance promises to be a timely highlight on the Irish audiology calendar. ISHAA has announced that registration information and further programme details will be released separately.
A meeting place for Ireland’s hearing care professionals
ISHAA has represented clinical and diagnostic hearing aid audiologists working in Ireland’s private sector since 1987. Its stated mission centres on maintaining exceptionally high standards of professional hearing care and aftercare, supporting continuous professional development, advancing access to current hearing technology, and upholding strong professional and ethical standards.
That mission gives the Autumn Education Day special significance. It is more than a date in the diary: it is an opportunity for practitioners to step away from busy clinics, examine emerging evidence, exchange ideas with colleagues and consider how the profession can continue to evolve. Bringing Dr. Darrow to Dublin fits naturally within that purpose. His career has consistently crossed the boundaries between laboratory science, clinical practice, professional education and public communication.
Why Dr. Darrow’s perspective matters now
Hearing care is experiencing an important shift. The traditional goal of helping a person hear speech more clearly remains essential, but the wider consequences of hearing difficulty are receiving greater attention. Communication, social connection, confidence, independence, listening effort, healthy ageing and cognitive wellbeing all shape the patient’s experience. Increasingly, the most meaningful clinical conversations begin not with a device, but with the person’s life, goals and concerns.
Dr. Darrow has become known for encouraging clinicians and the public to view hearing through this broader lens. His work connects auditory neuroscience with practical patient care and asks a powerful question: what changes when hearing treatment is understood as part of whole person healthcare? That perspective is likely to resonate with professionals who want to strengthen patient education, encourage earlier action and build treatment plans that extend beyond a simple technology transaction.
From the research laboratory to the treatment room
Dr. Darrow earned his PhD through the joint Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology programme in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology. He conducted auditory research at the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and completed clinical fellowship experience in otolaryngology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His published work includes research on auditory pathways, cochlear function, neural circuitry and emerging auditory technologies.
Alongside that research background, he has remained deeply involved in education and clinical leadership. Worcester State University identifies him as a tenured professor whose teaching includes hearing science, neuroscience, audiology, and anatomy and physiology of the speech and hearing mechanism. He also serves in leadership with Hearing & Brain Centers of America and founded the Excellence in Audiology professional network.
This combination matters. Researchers are trained to test assumptions and follow evidence. Clinicians must translate evidence into decisions that make sense for individual people. Educators must make complex ideas understandable. Dr. Darrow’s professional path brings all three disciplines together, giving him a distinctive platform from which to address an audience of practising hearing aid audiologists.
A keynote with practical relevance
ISHAA has not yet published the keynote title or complete programme, so attendees should look to the society’s official event page for confirmed session details. Even so, Dr. Darrow’s established areas of work suggest why his participation is relevant to today’s clinics. His public education and professional training frequently explore hearing loss, tinnitus, auditory stimulation, healthy ageing, cognitive health and the importance of timely intervention.
Those subjects create immediate clinical questions. How can professionals explain hearing and brain health without overwhelming or frightening a patient? How can appointments move from feature heavy explanations toward meaningful discussions about function and quality of life? How should practices support people after the fitting, when adaptation, counselling, verification, follow up and family involvement become central to long term success? And how can hearing care professionals communicate research responsibly, distinguishing association, risk and clinical evidence while still helping patients understand why delay may have consequences?
A strong keynote does not simply deliver information. It helps an audience see familiar challenges differently and return to work with sharper questions. Dr. Darrow’s ability to translate neuroscience for clinicians and patients is one reason his visit offers such promise.
The value of earlier, broader conversations
Many people still wait years between first noticing hearing difficulty and seeking professional care. During that time, they may begin avoiding restaurants, withdrawing from group conversations, relying more heavily on family members or accepting fatigue and frustration as unavoidable parts of ageing. The technical measurement of hearing loss is important, but it captures only part of this lived experience.
A brain health centred approach can help clinicians widen the conversation. It invites questions about communication demands, relationships, work, confidence, safety, tinnitus, cognition and the activities a person wants to preserve. It can also help families understand that hearing care is an ongoing clinical relationship rather than a one time purchase.
For audiologists, the opportunity is not to make promises that exceed the evidence. It is to communicate the evidence accurately, assess each person carefully and explain how appropriate intervention may support communication, participation and overall wellbeing. That balance, urgency without alarmism and confidence without overstatement, is increasingly important in a world where patients encounter health claims from countless online sources before entering the clinic.
Education that strengthens the profession
Professional education days also create value that cannot be replicated by reading alone. A keynote can spark conversations among colleagues about clinical protocols, counselling language, outcome measurement, referral relationships and follow up care. The discussions between sessions often become as valuable as the presentations themselves, because they allow professionals to compare how evidence works in real practices and real communities.
The setting matters, too. A national professional gathering gives independent clinicians, multisite teams, educators, suppliers and emerging practitioners a shared room in which to examine both common pressures and new possibilities. It creates space for respectful debate: which innovations are ready for routine care, which require more evidence, and which longstanding habits deserve to be reconsidered? Those conversations strengthen clinical judgement and help turn continuing education into collective progress.
For ISHAA members, the Autumn Education Day and AGM combines that learning with the work of the professional society. It is a chance to reconnect around shared standards, consider the direction of the profession in Ireland and contribute to a community that places quality care and ethics at its centre. Dr. Darrow’s international perspective can add a useful catalyst: fresh ideas to examine, adapt and apply within the Irish healthcare context.
What attendees can bring back to their clinics
The most valuable conference ideas are the ones that change Monday morning. Attendees may leave Dublin ready to revisit how their teams introduce hearing care, describe the relationship between the ears and the brain, engage family members and support patients over time. They may also identify new questions to ask during assessment: What is this person missing? Which environments have become exhausting? What matters enough to motivate change? What would successful treatment make possible again?
Small changes in language and workflow can have an outsized effect. A clearer explanation can reduce uncertainty. A more personal goal can increase commitment. A structured follow up plan can help a new user persist through adjustment. Consistent outcome measures can show whether treatment is improving the experiences that matter to the patient. When education leads to these practical improvements, its impact extends far beyond the conference room.
An invitation to look ahead
Dr. Keith Darrow’s keynote comes at a moment when hearing care professionals have an extraordinary opportunity to redefine how the public understands their work. Audiologists do far more than fit technology. They investigate complex symptoms, interpret diagnostic findings, guide people through consequential decisions, support behaviour change and help patients remain connected to the people and experiences they value.
The ISHAA Autumn Education Day and AGM offers a forum for that broader vision. It brings together a professional community committed to standards, development and ethical care, and it welcomes a speaker whose career has been built around connecting science with action.
Save the date: Saturday, 26 September 2026, at Castleknock Hotel, Dublin 15. Watch the official ISHAA event page for registration and the final programme. For hearing aid audiologists who want to think more deeply about the brain, communicate more effectively with patients and help shape the next chapter of hearing healthcare, this is one autumn gathering worth anticipating.