Luanda — Five thousand patients with hearing problems are treated annually at the audiology and hearing aid service at the Josina Machel hospital, audiologist Lisianne Goumonal told ANGOP Sunday, in Luanda.
Speaking to ANGOP in reference to world hearing day, marked today, Lisianne Goumonal, who is the responsible of audiology and hearing aid service, said that the program has existed since 2015 and that the number above is equivalent to the daily care of 20 to 30 patients in consultations.
According to the audiologist, in this total number of patients, the base of the pyramid concerns adults.
She said the this is a strong sign that adults, when they appear at consultations with hearing problems, have already had them since childhood.
"'As there is no culture of routinely visiting hospitals, patients only appear in adulthood", said the doctor, for whom there is a need for continuous control and monitoring.
According to the doctor, in these cases, almost nothing can be done in terms of natural correction, and the patient must resort to the use of hearing aids.
'But if children appear in external consultations, we will be able to diagnose them from a young age and treat them appropriately, thus preventing them from carrying the disease into adulthood", emphasized the audiologist.
She stated that the number of patients seen per day in Audiology services does not reflect the reality of the country, if the population density of Angola and the excess noise to which the majority of the population is subjected to daily are taken into account.
The specialist explains that Josina Machel's Audiology service is the only one in the public sector across the country. Despite this, the specialty is little known due to a lack of information, both among the population and among many healthcare professionals.
Ear test
The audiologist stressed that, to celebrate the date, the Clinical Audiology and Prosthetics service at Josina Machel Hospital has been carrying out, since the 1st of this month, a massive 'ear test' campaign for all newly born children. born, to rule out and treat any problem related to hearing loss.
'We want to work with maternity wards, pediatricians, gynecologists-obstetricians, so that, from prenatal consultations onwards, they inform mothers that there is an international protocol, that just like the heel prick test, an ear test must also be carried out to rule out any hearing disease.
Lisianne Goumonal said that the test is carried out on newborns, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't bleed and, in less than five minutes, the result is obtained.
She explained that in the test, a microphone is placed inside the child's ear and this, in turn, emits a sound that passes through the middle ear, inner ear and returns to the microphone.
If there is any change in the sound chain, the microphone detects it and the child will undergo various hearing tests and the necessary treatment.
According to the WHO, up to six months of age, all children must be diagnosed and fitted with hearing aids.
Cause of hearing loss
Hearing loss can be genetic (being born with it due to malformation) or acquired due to illness, poor ear care, medication or exposure to noise and excessive use of earphones, which come into direct contact with the middle ear.
Regarding diseases, the doctor said that poorly treated ear infections cause hearing loss.
Regarding medication, the audiologist informs that there are more than 200 medications that cause hearing problems, exemplifying the case of quinine and furosemide.
Prevention
The Audiology specialist warns that listening to very loud sound and using headphones frequently at high volume can cause hearing loss.
Exposure to very loud sounds, she pointed out, can destroy hair cells, located in the cochlea (inner ear).
These small ear injuries, she clarified, can cause a gradual loss of hearing that goes unnoticed, but can lead to permanent deafness.
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Therefore, she warned, to prevent this, you should avoid listening to very loud sounds, reduce the frequency of using headphones and not insert sharp objects into the ear.
To avoid injury, she recommended using ear protectors when exposed to very loud sounds, such as at concerts.
More than 800 million people worldwide suffer from hearing problems
Around 800 million people in the world suffer from some hearing loss and, between 20 and 40 years of age, deafness can affect 15 percent of this age group. These data are contained in the first global report on hearing, released in 2021, by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the report, by 2050, almost 2.5 billion people in the world or one in four people will live with a degree of hearing loss.
700 million of these people will need hearing care and rehabilitation services.
World Hearing Day was established by the World Health Organization, with the aim of raising awareness among the population about the importance of hearing and promoting actions to prevent hearing loss and improve hearing care.
