World Hearing Day has been observed every year on the 3rd of March since 2007. This year, the theme is to lay focus on overcoming the various challenges posed by misperceptions of society and stigmatising mindsets through information-sharing and awareness-raising, which is targeted at public and healthcare providers.
“Hearing loss has often been referred to as an invisible disability, not just because of lack of visible symptoms, but because it has long been stigmatised and ignored by policymakers.”
BURDEN OF HEARING LOSS:
According to data provided by WHO:
“Over 80% of hearing care remains unmet globally.
“Unaddressed hearing loss poses nearly US 980 billion dollars each year, which is incurred due to the impact of hearing without rehabilitation access, including social exclusion and productivity losses.
“Nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss by 2050, and hearing rehabilitation will be required for at least 700 million.
WORLD HEARING DAY
“Unsafe listening practices risk permanent, avoidable hearing loss in over 1 billion young adults.
“In India, hearing impairment ranges between 1.59 and 8.8 per 1000 births and ranges between 7 to 49.18 per 1000 births in ‘at risk’ neonates. In children, hearing loss prevalence ranges between 6.6 and 16.47%.
Disabling hearing loss is defined as hearing loss of more than 40 decibels in the better hearing ear in adults and greater than 30 decibels in the better hearing ear in children.
Profound hearing impairment, including deafness, is a hearing loss of 81 decibels or more.
CAUSES:
Various causes of hearing loss and deafness include genetic factors (hereditary and non-hereditary hearing loss), infections before birth (rubella, cytomegalovirus), oxygen deficiency at birth, hyperbilirubinemia, low birth weight, chronic ear infections, smoking, fixation of the bones of hearing which is known as otosclerosis, age-related sensorineural deafness, sudden sensorineural deafness, trauma to ear or head, loud sounds, ototoxic medicines, nutritional deficiencies.
PUBLIC AWARENESS STRATEGIES:
“We should not insert objects into our ear canals or try cleaning our ears using earbuds.
“We should never use ear drops without a doctor’s prescription.
“We should always consult an ENT doctor for any episode of ear bleed or earache.
“should always consult an ENT doctor for ear discharge and take only medications prescribed by the doctor (to avoid ototoxicity).
“All cases of decreased hearing or ear block should be reported immediately to the ENT doctor and should get hearing tests done as advised.
“Any hearing complaints in children should not taken lightly, as any negligence can affect speech and learning.
“In case of sudden development of hearing loss, one should report immediately to the ENT doctor; any delay in reporting and treatment can lead to permanent hearing loss.
“Immunisation against rubella, measles, mumps and meningitis.
“Occupational hearing conservation programmes for developing and implementing regulations for control of noise.
REHABILITATION:
Improving access to affordable, cost-effective, high-quality, assistive hearing technologies and products, including:
Hearing aids, cochlear implants, implantable hearing devices and other assistive devices are part of universal health coverage.
Under the ADIP scheme (Assistance to disabled persons for purchase/fitting of Aids and Appliances), cochlear implant surgery for children under five years of age is done free of cost. The cost of operation is around Rs. 6 lakh, borne by the government.
Rehabilitative measures should also include therapies to enhance perceptive skills and develop communication and linguistic abilities like learning sign language vocational training.
REFERENCE:
World Health Organization, World Hearing Day 2024
(The writers Dr Darwin Kaushal, Dr Amardeep Singh,
Dr Akriti Mahajan, Dr Pooja Rani, Dr Shivane Thakur are from Department of ENT, AIIMS Jammu).