More patients wait for hearing aid devices
Hearing impairment is the most frequent sensory defect in humans and occurs with significant social and psychological implications. Impairment varies from one individual to another due to factors such as severity, age of onset, treatment/ management options and the hearing status of parents.
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Currently in Ghana, more than 1,500 patients with hearing impairment are on the waiting list of the various hearing assessment centres across the country for hearing aid devices.
The patients are constrained by funds to purchase the hearing aids whose costs range from GH¢1,000 to GH¢6,000.
They are, therefore, waiting for the government or a non-governmental organisation to come to their aid.
The Head of the Hearing Assessment Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, (KBTH), Mrs Jemima Fynn, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra Tuesday, said majority of the patients were children who needed the devices for their hearing development.
“Much attention is not given to hearing impairment because it is a hidden disability and so people do not see it, but if we are able to have some form of interventions, rehabilitation centres, as well as the necessary equipment, the incidence of hearing impairment would reduce,” Mrs Fynn stated.
Childhood hearing crisis
Even though some people had permanent hearing loss conditions, she explained that, some cases were mild and moderate and could be managed by medical treatment or the hearing aid.
She bemoaned the fact that the hearing centres were recording increasing numbers in cases of hearing loss, especially among children.
Last year, for instance, Mrs Fynn said, 923 children aged one to 14 were brought to the KBTH hearing centre for assessment, and explained that, “per the outcomes of assessment, about 85 to 90 per cent are diagnosed with varying degrees of hearing loss”.
“Our concern is that most often, the children are brought in too late. It has duly been established that early identification and intervention gives the child a greater opportunity to learn the spoken language, significantly reducing increased education costs associated with hearing loss and later in life, improving earning capacity,” she said.
She added that 1,319 cases of hearing impairment were recorded among persons aged 15 to 60, or above at the centre.
WHO statistics
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 320 million people (five per cent of world’s population) are living with disabling hearing loss.
Of this number, the WHO says 32 million (close to 10 per cent) are children, with majority in the world’s low income and middle income countries possibly due to the high level of disease occurrence and weaker maternal and child health services, as compared to the high income countries.
The WHO also estimates that 60 per cent of childhood hearing loss is preventable.
According to the WHO, “When unavoidable, appropriate intervention measures can and will ensure that the child reaches full potential through rehabilitation, education and empowerment”.
Unlike the developed countries where there were equipment to screen children’s hearing systems within 24-48 days after birth, Mrs Fynn said most hospitals in Ghana lacked the equipment and so detection of child hearing was done later when the family detected that the child could not talk or hear.
Lack of facilities
“In Korle Bu, we have the equipment so we screen the newborns but most of the hospitals, especially government facilities in the country do not have and so the detection of hearing loss in children are done late.
“When the condition is detected early, depending on the level of hearing loss, it could be treated or the patient assisted with the hearing aid device, otherwise sometimes the children grow with it and it becomes chronic and it consequently makes it permanent,” Mrs Fynn explained.
She, therefore, called on the government to pay critical attention to hearing impairment and save the future generation of hearing loss.