View of the December 2025 newsletter in your browser
Dear Members,
Our EURO-CIU Workshop and General Assembly will take place next year in Bucharest, with the workshop scheduled for 17–18 April. Preparations are already progressing well. One of the central aims of the workshop will be to establish working groups that will reflect on the future strategic direction of EURO-CIU. Together, we will develop proposals on how we wish to position our organisation in the coming years. I am convinced that these important decisions can only be made collectively, drawing on the expertise and perspectives of all our members.
I would, therefore, like to warmly invite you to participate actively in the workshop. Your ideas and suggestions are welcome at any time, and we will ensure they are included and presented during our discussions. Members will also have the opportunity to showcase their projects and association activities. If you are interested, please contact Anamaria directly.
Another key focus will be the strengthening of our collaboration with partner organisations such as EFHOH, HHF EU, and other relevant stakeholders. These partnerships are essential for amplifying our shared voice and advancing hearing health across Europe. I look forward to strong participation and meaningful contributions from all our members.
In recent weeks, EURO-CIU was represented at several significant events. At the 2nd CIICA Conference in Brussels, we experienced two intensive and inspiring days filled with valuable presentations and engaging discussions with many distinguished participants. In addition, I recently spoke at the HHF EU webinar “Beyond Ageing – A European Hearing Health Agenda for Inclusion and Economic Participation”. With more than 57 million people across Europe affected by hearing loss, it is crucial that we continue to address its social and economic implications. The webinar brought together key European stakeholders, including EURO-CIU, AGE Platform Europe, MED-EL, and the Hearing Health Forum EU, to discuss a life-course approach to hearing care and its importance for workforce participation and social inclusion.
As we approach the end of the year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the coming year bring good health, inspiration, and continued fruitful cooperation within our community.
Warm regards,
Tobias Fischer
President, EURO-CIU
View of the September 2025 newsletter in your browser
Dear readers,
Welco
me to the latest edition of the EURO-CIU Mail! I’m pleased to share a new issue filled with inspiring articles and updates from our members, friends, and supporters across Europe.
This edition includes a special feature on ESPCI 2025 – a memorable event that brought together professionals, advocates, and CI users in Hannover. I encourage you to read more about the symposium and its impact.
We also recently held our extraordinary online General Assembly, where important topics were discussed and decisions made for the future of our organization. Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed.
I wish you much enjoyment and insight as you explore this newsletter.
Warm regards,
Tobias Fischer
President, EURO-CIU
View of the June 2025 newsletter in your browser
To EURO-CIU Members, Friends, and Partners,
I am honoured to write to you for the first time as EURO-CIU President with great pleasure and a deep sense of duty. I feel privileged to continue the legacy of my predecessors and to serve this vibrant, resourceful community of cochlear implant users, families, professionals, and advocates across Europe.
Our recent reunion at the 15th International Symposium in Istanbul reminded us all very forcefully of the strength that we derive from connection. The sharing of experiences, ideas, and innovations inspired us all. I extend my warm thanks to our Turkish hosts and to all participants who made the event such an overwhelming success.
Going forward, EURO-CIU is dedicated to our purpose: to give every user of a cochlear implant in Europe lifelong support, equal access to the health care system, and complete integration into society. This includes promoting our voice at the European level for a variety of significant issues, such as the European Disability Card, accessibility in new communication technologies, and the integration of AI and telehealth into audiological care.
We also bask in ongoing and fruitful cooperation with CIICA – the Cochlear Implant International Community of Action. We support the international voice of CI users together, combine resources, battle for best practices collectively, and raise public awareness. Our cooperation is a symbol of the power of international collaboration and our shared vision for a world with a place for every person with hearing loss.
Another priority in the future is youth involvement. Not only is our future, the next generation of CI users, but they are also influencing our current present. Their voices, their demands, and their visions are important to our movement. We will continue to advocate for platforms and spaces for them to lead, network, and make their voices heard.
As we embrace new technology and travel through change, let’s stay grounded in our values: dignity, equity, and community. Together – with our members, with CIICA, and with partners all over Europe and the global world – we can continue breaking down barriers and building a genuine inclusive society for everyone with CI.
Thank you for your confidence, your dynamism, and your unfaltering commitment. I welcome the anticipation of the work that we will be able to accomplish together over the months and years to come.
Warm regards,
Tobias Fischer
President, EURO-CIU
View of the March 2025 newsletter in your browser
18th March 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of EURO-CIU. Our foundation meeting was held on 18th March 1995, when cochlear implants were in their infancy. While we have come a long way since then, unfortunately we are still climbing the same mountains today, for awareness, access and lifelong care. In 1995 there was a great deal of opposition and negativity towards cochlear implants. Now, 30 years later, we can see that the technology is proven, incredibly reliable, safe and accepted. Besides, cochlear implant outcomes are typically far better than the inventors ever expected them to be.
Our 30th Anniversary Symposium will be in Istanbul on 4th April (with General Assembly for members only on 5th April), and I hope that many of you will be there.
Jumping forward 30 years into the future, how do we expect the world of cochlear implants to look in 2055? Will people of all ages be able to get bilateral implants? Will all CI users get frequent device upgrades, free consumables (batteries, filters…) and spare processors? Will people need to be able to get the additional support that they need? Will everyone who needs implants be able to get them? Will CI users have geographical mobility without having to worry about who will look after their ears? Will the same three brands dominate the CI market? Will EURO-CIU still be a strong advocacy force?
Technology and medicine will inevitably advance. For example, totally implantable devices and gene therapy solutions may arrive soon, while artificial intelligence is expected to improve processor mapping. Our community needs to carefully consider every “advance” and steer decision makers accordingly.
EURO-CIU relies on member associations and active volunteers within them. Historically, when most CI users were children, the active volunteers were inevitably the parents of CI users. Now that there are over 500,000 CI users in Europe, most of them very capable young adults, I strongly encourage existing CI users to put themselves forward and advocate for CI users. New persons with lived experience need to come in and refresh EURO-CIU, as well as our member associations, with new vision and drive.
As many of you know this will be my last column. Having served six years on the board of EURO-CIU as Vice-President and President, I will be standing down at the General Assembly on 5th April. Thank you to everyone who has supported me. In Istanbul we will therefore be electing a new President, 2nd Vice-President and Secretary. To apply for any of these roles or to find out more, please contact Beatrice Cusmai beatrice.cusmai@aguav.it for an application form. I hope and trust that EURO-CIU will continue to grow and thrive well into the future. Here’s to the next 30 years!
Robert Mandara
President, EURO-CIU
