The National Ear Care Centre on Tuesday said it will conduct ear screening and provide hearing aids for 100 deaf students with amendable hearing treatment.
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The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Mustapha Abubakar-Yaro said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.
He said as part of the activities to mark the World Hearing Day, the hospital would visit the school for the deaf in Kaduna and conduct ear screening for students.
He said some of the students have hearing loss that is still amendable, but lacked access to interventions.
“Globally, there is lack of access to interventions to address hearing loss, such as hearing aids. Early intervention should be made available through the health systems.
“We are going to the school to screen the students because we understand that some of them have hearing loss that is still amendable.
“When we are able to identify such, we will provide them with hearing aids that will assist them.”
Abubakar-Yaro said that they would source for funds from individuals and organisations “so that we can increase the number of people to be assisted with the hearing aids.
“The main purpose of hearing aids is to make you hear better.
“Hearing aids makes you hear better in almost all situations, at home, when going out, when traveling or commuting in public transport, at family gatherings and other social events, at the workplace and in many other situations.”
He added that hearing aids also help one to hear what is being said on TV or radio much better.
The medical director, however, explained that hearing aids do not restore ones hearing to normal level, but only improve one’s hearing significantly.
“Hearing aid technology has developed quite a lot in recent years. This also means that both user satisfaction and the image of hearing aids have improved substantially.”
He noted that the vast majority of hearing aid users have acknowledged that the aids have improved their quality of life.
“We want to also improve their quality of life by providing them with the hearing aid, because several studies have also found that both physical and mental health are better among people with hearing loss who use hearing aids than among those who do not use hearing aids.
“Physical and mental stress is lower and hearing aid users experience better sleep than non-users.
“Scientific studies have found that the use of hearing aids reduces cognitive decline and the risk of developing dementia. Wearing hearing aids helps protect your brain,’’ he said.