The programme dealt with the application of new technologies for diagnosis and rehabilitation of hearing impairment. The principal emphasis of the programme was on signal processing hearing aids. Our priority areas of application were the problems of hearing impairment in the neonate and in the elderly population. At the beginning of the programme we held the first international conference on signal processing hearing aids, and a follow-up workshop was held at the end of the programme. The first meeting reviewed the state of the art in hardware and software, and created a network of active laboratories in Europe. A specific plan of collaborative research was formulated, resulting in the development of a prototype hearing aid for the profoundly hearing impaired, using a feature extraction approach. The device is currently undergoing evaluation in several centres. A workshop on early identification of neonatal hearing impairment established a network of active groups and identified the measurement of otoacoustic emissions as providing the best basis for an automated screening device for neonates. We have tried to solve some of the problems associated with patent rights for using this technology and work on developing screening devices is now under way in several participating institutes. We have held the first European meeting on hearing impairment in the elderly and established a network of active groups working on this topic. A meeting on auditory neuromagnetic responses identified the major European groups working in this field. These groups will continue to meet under the concerted action on neuromagnetism. Finally, a meeting on histopathology of the human temporal bone focused the activities of participating laboratories on studies of early development and ageing, and led to the setting up of a multicentre evaluation of the temporal bone from a 77 year old patient. Our concerted action has published six volumes of proceedings in Acta Otolaryngologica, containing a total of 148 research and theoretical papers. These proceedings have been distributed widely inside and outside Europe.