The 4th Arab Cochlear Implant Conference (ACIC 2026) takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 26 to 28 November 2026, and is the region's leading meeting in cochlear implantation and hearing restoration. It brings together surgeons, audiologists, speech and language therapists, and rehabilitation specialists from across the Arab world alongside international faculty.
The conference is convened in collaboration with the GCC ORL Societies, the Advanced Arab Academy of Audiology, the Arab Academy of Otology and Cochlear Implant, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). That partnership gives the programme both regional relevance and international standard-setting weight — a combination rare for an ENT meeting in the Gulf.
The scientific committee has built a programme covering candidacy and patient selection, paediatric implantation and early intervention, surgical technique and complication management, single-sided deafness, electro-acoustic stimulation and hearing preservation, bone-conduction and middle-ear implants, auditory processing, and post-implant rehabilitation and outcome measurement. Sessions combine cutting-edge research presentations, interactive workshops, panel discussions and hands-on learning rather than lecture-only formats.
Faculty is drawn from two tracks — an international speaker panel and a regional speaker panel — so delegates hear both global evidence and how implantation programmes are actually run in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries, where national screening and implantation programmes have expanded rapidly over the past decade.
Abstract submission was open until 15 August 2026, with accepted work presented in oral and poster sessions during the meeting. A dedicated sponsors and industry exhibition runs alongside the scientific programme, giving delegates direct access to current implant systems, processors and diagnostic technology.
For ENT surgeons, audiologists, SLPs, and paediatricians working with hearing-impaired children in Saudi Arabia and the GCC, ACIC 2026 is the primary regional forum of the year for cochlear implantation — held domestically in Jeddah, in English, with AAO-HNS involvement.
