World Hearing Day: Seha calls for greater awareness about hearing loss

WAM: On World Hearing Day, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the UAE’s largest healthcare network, is urging people of all ages to keep track of their hearing and attend regular screenings.

SEHA is marking the day with several initiatives to encourage people of all ages to not take their hearing ability for granted and instead, take proactive steps that will protect its loss.

World Hearing Day is held on 3rd March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. This year’s global theme ‘To hear for life, listen with care’ brings to light the fact that one in two young people are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged and excessive exposure to loud sounds.

Dr Zafeer Ahmed, Acting ENT Chair of Department and ENT Specialist at Ambulatory Healthcare Services said, “Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent but largely preventable. It’s simply a matter of adopting safe-listening practices – set the volume to 60% of maximum and use well-fitted noise-cancelling headphones, wear ear plugs in noisy areas, don’t sit too close to the source of the sound, seek out a quiet nook from time to time, leverage the use of sound exposure monitoring apps, and purchase devices with built-in safe listening features. It is important that people pay heed to warning signs and get regularly screened. There are several self-check apps, such as hearWHO which are convenient. If you notice some signs or fail the self-check, its best to book an appointment with your family physician or an ENT specialist at SEHA. In addition, we believe that every newborn should undergo examination and screening for hearing allowing for early intervention and improving outcomes.”

SEHA provides comprehensive curative and preventative services from birth to old age to protect hearing. SEHA’s Ambulatory Health Services (AHS) and Al Dhafra hospitals provide pediatric and adult screening and treatment programs and services. This includes the ‘Well Child’ screening programme and the ‘DOH Comprehensive’ screening programme for Thiqa holders over 65 years.

SEHA’s ENT and audiology clinics at AHS and Al Dhafra hospitals provide patients with comprehensive care including prescription and follow up of hearing aids, tailored care for people of determination, referral to speech therapy, availability of several hearing tests (including pressure hearing tests) and diagnostic services catering to poor hearing, speech delay, and ear ringing. Additionally, SEHA also provide occupational health screening for people who work in loud environments while Corniche Hospital provides advanced neonatology services, enabling us to provide an unparalleled quality of care for newborns, including a comprehensive screening programme.

To further support the community on the occasion of World Hearing Day, AHS has launched a wide range of educational activities, including webinars to educate the community about the effects of loud noise, particularly from video games, on hearing, as well as a special awareness session for shooters at Al Ain Shooting Club to educate them on how to protect their ears, as a single blast can cause lasting hearing loss and tinnitus. AHS is also running its annual campaign to distribute free hearing aids for select patients in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain who are unable to afford them, in partnership with Touch of Health, a supplier of hearing aids in the UAE.

Common signs and symptoms of hearing loss include – muffling of speech and other sounds, difficulty understanding words, trouble hearing consonants, frequently asking others to speak more slowly, clearly, and loudly, needing to turn up the volume of the television or radio, withdrawal from conversations, and avoidance of some social settings.