About
Dr Dalia Tsimpida is a Lecturer in Gerontology at the University of Southampton, a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS), and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). In the Department of Gerontology, she serves as the Examination Officer and Employability Coordinator.
Dr Tsimpida is the Thematic Cluster Lead for the 'Data Skills & Methods' Theme at the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP), where she oversees the interdisciplinary training and support for PGR students across the SCDTP's four partner universities. As the Faculty Advisor of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Student Chapter at the University of Southampton- the first of its kind in the UK- she fosters student engagement in the field of ageing research. In addition, Dr Tsimpida contributes to the academic community as an Associate Editor for the international journal Ageing & Society.
Over the past decade, Dr Tsimpida's work has centered on the social epidemiology and public health aspects of hearing loss and its co-existing noncommunicable diseases. She has primarily focused on health inequalities, striving to understand their underlying mechanisms while developing interventions that span the lifecourse. She is a Special Advisor at the World Hearing Forum (WHF) and a Consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), where she actively contributes to informing global hearing health strategies, policies and plans.
Delivering world-class research, she has been awarded several honours and awards and has developed an international reputation. In 2020, she received the International Society of Audiology (ISA) Scholarship Award for her groundbreaking work in the early identification of individuals with hearing loss in primary care, and its potential to enhance opportunities for healthy and inclusive ageing.
Dr Tsimpida's role as the Primary Investigator of the New National Study of Hearing resulted in the long-awaited update of hearing loss prevalence estimates among older adults in England in 2022, after 40 years. Her research uncovered a previously unknown north-south divide in the prevalence of hearing loss among older adults of similar age profiles, challenging the assumption of the inevitability of hearing loss in older age, commonly referred to as 'age-related hearing loss'. This work revealed that the increasing prevalence of hearing loss may not be solely attributed to ageing but could be linked to social and lifestyle changes. She introduced the concept of 'lifestyle-related hearing loss,' and developed the Conceptual Model of Hearing Health Inequalities (HHI Model), which illustrates the factors that impact individuals earlier in life and, if modified, could reduce hearing loss in older age.
Her work pioneered a new era in assessing hearing health inequalities by proposing the monitoring of the burden and distribution of hearing loss in older adults using routine health information systems, revealing the limitations of current data for planning sustainable care models, and proposed that the prevalence estimates should be based on the already available, actual data that reflect populations' needs, rather than on age projections. Dr Tsimpida's research has significantly influenced policy, prompting the integration of hearing care into health strategies both in the UK and globally. Following extensive engagement with policymakers and the co-production of a Policy Brief with Place Directors in Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS). One of the key recommendations from this analysis—later included in the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report 2023,—was the monitoring of hearing loss data, recognising its links to depression, dementia, falls, and frailty.