World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Mar. 3 as World Hearing Day. The theme of World Hearing Day-2021 is ‘Hearing Care for all! Screen, Rehabilitate, Communicate.’ To mark this occasion, here we publish two articles written by experts         covering various facets of hearing, its myths and facts.  —Ed

The Myths and Facts

By Dr. Animesh Barman, Professor of Audiology, Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru

Auditory system is one of the most important sense organs which keeps us connected with the environment.  It helps us hear and is an integral part of human development. Hearing is the most important and effortless mode though which speech and language is learnt. During the early years of life, young children imitate their parents, siblings and neighbours by listening to what they say, which helps in the development of speech and language. 

We also protect ourselves from danger either by hearing or by visualising the warning signal. Most importantly, for us to have continuity in our speech or to have continuity in our communication, it is essential for each one of us to hear what is being said by others and also hear our own speech.  A deficit in hearing or complete lack of hearing not only deprives us from learning language, learning to speak, protecting ourselves from danger or having effective communication, it can also significantly affect our psychosocial development or status. 

Missing out on information

One might withdraw himself or herself from participating in active communication due to difficulty in hearing. This type of behaviour gradually results in social isolation, thereby leading to other psychological problems like anxiety, depression, inferiority complex, etc. Hearing loss since birth or childhood would deprive the children from normal development of speech and language.  It has been often observed that ear pain or ear infection is taken very lightly. But we need to understand that a simple ear infection during childhood would hinder the development of auditory nervous system. School-going children, even with milder degree of hearing loss tend to miss out on a lot of information in the class, leading to poorer scholastic performance. Lack of auditory development due to long-standing ear infection can affect their ability to understand complex speech, when there are multiple talkers or noise in the environment. 

Denting academic performance

This will further worsen their academic performance. This is rarely understood or realised by parents and there is a tendency to punish the child and exert additional pressure on the child, leading to further deterioration of academic achievement, which might lead to other abnormal psychosocial behaviours. Adults or older adults often have hearing loss, which progresses slowly. The severity of hearing loss goes unnoticed until it reaches a level affecting their communication significantly. During the initial stages,they do not realise that they are missing out on a lot of speech sounds due to the hearing loss either on low tone or high tone sounds. 

There is always a tendency to pass the buck to the communication partner without really realising that there is absolutely no problem with their speech. The difficulty in hearing would slowly deter them from communicating with others, eventually isolating themselves. This might lead to depression, frustration, irritability, etc.    

Psychosocial development 

Hearing and its impact on communication and psychosocial development is less understood by the general public. This is mainly due to lack of awareness about the importance of hearing and its impact. There is also lack of information about whom to contact and where these facilities are available. 

India is a country where still people hold prejudiced beliefs and attitudes. Many people, especially from rural areas, though are aware of the importance of hearing and the professionals to be consulted, are still reluctant to avail the facilities.  Those who do visit the different service centres or clinics for correction of hearing sensitivity, withdraw from the corrective procedures. There are only a handful of people who really understand the significance of hearing, do not have prejudiced beliefs and effectively avail the facilities available. 

It is not only essential for all to have normal or near-normal hearing sensitivity with or without correction (similar to corrected vision), but also to equip themselves to use their corrected hearing effectively. It is thus essential to create awareness among public about the importance of hearing, impact of hearing loss, the way it can be corrected and how corrected hearing can effectively be used, especially in Indian population where prejudices still exist and prevent people from availing facilities. 

The WHO is expanding its activities to create awareness and encourage persons with hearing loss to get their hearing corrected and prevent further deterioration in the ability to hear. Like every year, this year also the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) has joined hands with WHO to achieve the goal of hearing for all.