On 24 and 25 November, 2014, in the World Hearing Center, took place the 18^th surgical training workshop WAW – Window Approach Workshop, which was also the 4^th Surgical Foundation Course organized in Kajetany. International group of participants included ear surgeons from France, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Czech Republic, Romania, Kenya, Latvia, Turkey, Kuwait, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ukraine.

The scientific program of the 18^th WAW included lectures of specialists from the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing and invited lecturers: Prof. Thomas Klenzner from Dusseldorf and Prof. László  Rovó from Szeged. Topics included the assessment and qualification of patients, surgical techniques of cochlear implantation and newest cochlear implant technological solutions. Participants had also a unique learning opportunity to observe demonstration surgeries performed by Prof. Skarżyński. After demonstration surgeries they went to the laboratory to train under the supervision of instructors the techniques of cochlear implantation on the temporal bone specimens and special computer models of cochlea.

Very popular among the cochlear implant surgeons WAW – Window Approach Workshops have been organized in Kajetany already since from 2007. A fundamental issue taught and trained during these workshops is the insertion of a cochlear implant electrode in the minimally invasive way, through the round window of the cochlea, which enables preserving the residual hearing and anatomical structures of the cochlea. This surgical method has been elaborated and developed by Prof. Henryk Skarżyński in the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing.