In April 2023, the campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was overflowing with spring colors. In order to promote the social culture of respecting, loving and helping the elderly, and to guide them and their families to pay attention to hearing and cognitive health issues, the Speech-Language-Hearing Center at the School of Foreign Languages of Shanghai Jiao Tong University held a hearing and cognitive screening activity for the elderly in the Yang Yongman Building on the Minhang campus of Shanghai Jiao University in mid to late April. The event was also a joint Party Day and Youth League Day Activity with the theme of "promoting respect for the elderly and caring for the health of the elderly", where the first and eighth party branches and the league committee of the School of Foreign Languages (F2214101 league branch) joined hands with Shanghai ShearLove Charity Development Center and Sonova Hearing Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. to provide free hearing and cognitive testing services to the families of teachers and students, retired staff and elderly people in nearby communities. Prof. Ding Hongwei, Director of the Speech-Language-Hearing Center, Doctor Lin Yi, Wang Hui, Project Manager of Shanghai ShearLove Charity Development Center, and members of Sonova Hearing Technology attended the event, and more than 50 student volunteers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University participated in the event.

The official activity of hearing and cognitive screening for the elderly was held in four sessions on April 15 and 22. Nearly 70 elderly people participated in the activity. The event was hosted by Li Keyu, an undergraduate from English Department of the School of Foreign Languages. At the beginning of the event, Prof. Ding Hongwei, Doctor Lin Yi and Ms. Wang Hui delivered speeches respectively, introducing the purpose and objectives of the event and set a good start for the follow-up activities.

(Speech by Professor Ding Hongwei)

(Speech by Dr Lin Yi)

(Speech by Ms. Wang Hui)

Then, Zhang Huaiyi, a German undergraduate student from Grade 2022, gave a popular lecture on cognitive health, introducing to the elderly the connotation of cognitive health, the causes and hazards of cognitive decline and the ways to slow it down. The lecture guided the elderly to pay attention to their hearing cognitive health, and also guided their family members to pay attention to the elderly's mental state and give them adequate physical and psychological care.    

(Student Li Keyu hosted the event)                                                                                                                  (Zhang Huaiyi introduced hearing health knowledge for the elderly)

After the lecture warming-up, the hearing and cognitive screening activity started. The project team provided one-on-one testing services to the elderly guests, and comprehensively assessed the hearing, speech, cognitive and emotional functions of the participants. During the process, the volunteer testers carefully guided the elderly to complete the test and gave them timely encouragement and praise. During the interval, the students took the initiative to chat with the elderly about their family, rendering a pleasant atmosphere. At the end of the activity, gifts and certificates were handed out to the elderly who completed the hearing and cognitive tests.  

The two-day event was smooth and orderly, received warm reponse and was widely praised. Many elderly people expressed that they liked this type of activity very much, through which they had a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of physical, mental and brain health, and would pay more attention to their own hearing and cognitive health problems and those around them in their future lives. The volunteers also benefited a lot. They not only gained pride in caring for the elderly and helping others, but also improved their communication, organization and coordination skills, as well as their professional knowledge and skills in cognitive, hearing and language assessment.