Hearing Industry Research Consortium

The purpose of the Hearing Industry Research Consortium is to develop and direct a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda that benefits the hearing aid industry, its customers, and end-users.

View Request for Proposals

Here’s How We Pursue Our Purpose

Identify

Identifying non-competitive research topics, initiating requests for proposals (RFPs) in topic areas, and funding appropriate proposals

Support

Supporting Educational Initiatives (e.g. research conferences)

Create

Co-authoring Research Consortium position papers and conference presentations

Who We Are

Andrew Dittberner

Christoph Micheyl

Starkey

Niels H. Pontoppidan

Oticon

Stefan Launer

Filip Roenne

Latest News

Request for Proposals (RFP) 2024: Successful Communication: novel, real-life relevant outcome measures of HA benefit (02/21/2024) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2024 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research.
Announcing the 2023 RFP: "Indirect benefits of hearing-aids: psychosocial, functional or physical improvements" (03/03/2023) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2023 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research on "Indirect benefits of hearing-aids: psychosocial, functional or physical improvements"
Announcing the 2021 Grant Recipients (06/14/2022) - The IRC are pleased to announce the grant winners of the 2021 call are Prof. Erin Schafer and her team at University of North Texas.
Announcing the 2022 RFP: "When hearing loss is not due to presbycusis: similarities and differences to the age-related hearing loss" (06/07/2022) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2022 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research on "When hearing loss is not due to presbycusis: similarities and differences to the age-related hearing loss."
Announcing the 2021 RFP: "Confirming The Hearing Care Practitioner (HCP) Role with Respect to Expanded Hearing-Aid-User Needs, Health & Well-Being" (06/04/2021) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2021 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research on "Confirming The Hearing Care Practitioner (HCP) Role with Respect to Expanded Hearing-Aid-User Needs, Health & Well-Being".
No IRC Request for Proposal in 2020 (05/11/2020) - On behalf of the Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC), I would like to let you know, that we will not post a Request for Proposals in 2020.
Announcing the 2019 Grant Recipients (03/24/2020) - The IRC are pleased to announce the grant winners of the 2019 call are Dr Graham Naylor and his team at the University of Nottingham and Dr Jani Johnson and her team at the University of Memphis.
Announcing the 2019 RFP: "The joy of hearing: the impact of hearing loss and hearing aids on the affective state of the listener" (06/04/2019) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2019 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research on "The joy of hearing: the impact of hearing loss and hearing aids on the affective state of the listener".
Announcing the 2018 Grant Recipients (06/03/2019) - The IRC are pleased to announce that the grant winner of the 2018 call is Professor Louise Hickson and her team at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Announcing the 2018 RFP: "Stigma-related factors influencing the uptake of hearing aids" (05/15/2018) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium wishes to support pre-competitive research that advances understanding of stigma related factors influencing the uptake of hearing aids.
Announcing the 2017 Grant Recipients (01/22/2018) - IRC is very pleased to announce that the 2017 grant recipients are a team lead by Principal Investigator Prof. Hans Colonius, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg, Germany and another team lead by Prof. Anu Sharma, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Announcing the 2017 RFP: "The impact of audiovisual integration on acoustic communication in hearing impaired adults" (05/01/2017) - Hearing IRC wishes to support pre-competitive research that advances understanding of the effects of both hearing aid processing and individual audiovisual integration abilities on hearing aid benefit in real-life speech communication.
Announcing the 2016 Grant Recipients (02/14/2017) - IRC is very pleased to announce that the 2016 grant recipient is the team lead by Principal Investigator Dr Inga Holube, Institute of Hearing Technology and Audiology, Jade University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg in cooperation with Dr. Markus Meis from Hörzentrum Oldenburg, Germany.
Announcing the 2016 RFP: Auditory Ecology and its contribution to Quality of Life, with Emphasis on the Individual (06/13/2016) - The focus of this RFP is Auditory Ecology, a concept introduced by Gatehouse (1999) to describe the relationship between the acoustic environments experienced in everyday life and the perceptual demands of different individuals in these environments.
Announcing the 2015 Grant Recipients (03/14/2016) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) is pleased to announce its most recent grant proposal recipients: Principal Investigators Dr Peter Nordquist, Research Institute Hörselbron, KTH Stockholm, Sweden as well as the team lead by Dr Harvey Dillon, National Acoustic Laboratories, Sydney, Australia.
Announcing the 2015 RFP: Outcome Measurement and Treatment Prescription (05/01/2015) - Since 2010 the hearing industry’s largest manufacturers have collaborated to sponsor a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda benefitting the hearing aid industry, its customers, and end users. The framework for this collaboration is the Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC).
Announcing the 2014 Grant Recipients (02/05/2015) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) is pleased to announce its most recent grant proposal recipients: Prof. John Grose, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Elizabeth Beach, PhD, National Acoustic Laboratories, Australia.
Announcing the 2014 RFP: Neurodegeneration (05/29/2014) - During the last five years, our understanding of the pathophysiology of hearing loss has been substantially enhanced, and challenged, by the discovery of auditory neuronal damage, which does not always manifest in the audiogram.
Announcing the 2013 Grant Recipients (12/03/2013) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) is excited to announce its most recent grant proposal recipients. The team of Theo Goverts, Ph.D., and Steve Colburn, Ph.D., along with Virginia Best, Ph.D., were selected to receive $150,000 each for research which will advance the understanding of the perception of dynamic spatial listening scenarios.
RFP 2013 Perception of dynamic spatial listening scenarios (06/10/2013) - Dear colleagues, The hearing aid industry’s largest manufacturers have collaborated to create the Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) to develop and direct a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda benefitting the hearing aid industry, its customers, and end users. The IRC is requesting proposals for a research project on “Perception of dynamic spatial listening scenarios”.
Announcing the First IRC Grant Recipients (05/17/2013) - The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) is excited to announce the results of its first public Request For grant Proposals (RFP). Piers Dawes, Ph.D, Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, and Andrea Pittman, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Arizona State University, were selected to each receive $150,000 for their research proposals that are aimed to...
Worldwide Hearing Industry Research Consortium Announced (09/04/2012) - $300,000 Grant to be Awarded to Winning Proposal on Interaction of Cognition and Hearing Aids The hearing industry’s largest manufacturers have collaborated to create the Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) to develop and direct a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda benefitting the hearing aid industry, its customers and end users. As its first act,...
Industry Research Consortium has a new website (07/11/2012) - The hearing industry research consortium has a new website to support industry-wide research initiatives.