How hearing tests, education, prevention and intervention can help improve access to hearing care for all people.
For most of us Americans, getting a hearing test near where we live is pretty easy. Find a great audiologist, set up an appointment with a few clicks or a quick phone call, and drive to the clinic for your hearing evaluation. Tada – done!
But in other parts of the world, especially in developing countries and under-resourced communities, comprehensive hearing care is much harder to access. Getting to an audiologist might involve a long trip to a larger city, where they may not have the same tools and technology available.
Some of our Associated Audiologists team members, including Dana Jacobson, AuD, Co-President and Co-CEO, Linda Erickson, AuD, Senior Audiologist, and Tim Steele, PhD, President Emeritus and Practice Ambassador, have had the opportunity to travel with nonprofit service organizations to India and Guatemala, where they provided audiology services and hearing aids to people in need. Read on to find out more about hearing care around the world and hear their stories.
Facts about hearing loss around the world
More than 430 million people around the world have disabling hearing loss. By 2050, the World Health Organization estimates that number to balloon to over 700 million people — that’s 1 in every 10 people.1
About one fourth of those with hearing loss are children, and as the popularity of earbuds and noisy environments grows, this number is likely to increase as well.
Nearly 80% of people with disabling hearing loss live in countries that are classified as low- to middle-income, which increases the challenge of getting the care they need to help with their hearing loss.
Access to hearing health care
As with many health issues, resources for people with hearing loss vary widely across the globe. More developed countries and higher-income nations generally have better access to hearing tests for infants through adults, as well as a variety of options for treatment and support for people with hearing loss.
On the other hand, people in less developed countries, which face challenges with infrastructure, financial limitations and supply chain disruptions, may have difficulty accessing the hearing care they need.
What happens when hearing loss is not treated?
Untreated hearing loss can have serious impacts, beyond just difficulty with communication. This can include:
- Feeling isolated, alone or left out of the community.
- Limited opportunities for education and work.
- Increased risk for dementia and cognitive decline, especially in older adults.
- Negative effects on other aspects of health.
Helping people with hearing loss
There are three key avenues to addressing hearing loss, both locally and globally.
- Prevention. Implementing good public health strategies and education about hearing loss can reduce the number of people who experience hearing loss and improve the lives of those who have all types of hearing loss.
- Early identification. Screening people at higher risk for hearing loss, including newborn babies, school-aged children, people who are exposed to loud noises through work or hobbies, and older adults, can help identify hearing loss sooner and allow for better management.
- Treatment. An array of options, including hearing aids, cochlear implants, speech/language therapy, aural training like Lace AI Pro, assistive technology like closed captioning services, and tinnitus management tools like Lenire, can help people with hearing loss be more independent and enjoy their life to the fullest.
A new perspective on audiology
Associated Audiologists’ Dr. Tim Steele with Saint Mother Teresa, 1996
Our doctoral-level audiologists at our clinics here in Kansas and Missouri are used to having the latest technology, testing equipment and hearing aids available to help their patients. But what happens when you’re in a place where very few of those resources are available?
That was the question that Dr. Tim Steele, his wife Julie, Dr. Linda Erickson, and others in their medical mission team faced during their 1996 visit to Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Calcutta, India. The trip was organized by Rotary International and Heart to Heart and also included Dr. Jim Wise, the founder of Associated Audiologists.
Julie Steele with Saint Mother Teresa, 1996
“Dr. Erickson and I were new in our career and the opportunity to practice where it required creativity to operate — where we may not have had access to all the normal tests, tools, equipment and supplies we normally did — brought a new appreciation and maybe even confidence to our practice,” shared Dr. Steele.
“The entire experience was life-changing and ultimately led Julie and I to adopt our daughter Kate in 2008. Two nuns who we fit with hearing aids were the inspiration for our daughter Meg’s name. The relationships that are forged during these types of service trips are often life-long.”
“The world got quieter and farther away…”
A few years later, Dr. Steele continued this journey on a trip to Guatemala with Dana Jacobson, AuD, Co-President and Co-CEO, and other health care professionals.
Tim shared: “In Guatemala, we once again had the opportunity to provide direct service as well as training so young nurse professionals in the region could continue to carry on some of the basic hearing screenings and services to help others even after we left.
“Obviously, these situations are humbling because we realize how much we take for granted and we often end up being the ones influenced the most. The individuals we have the privilege to work with and serve are often so extremely grateful, yet we also gain so much in return, such as a new appreciation for our training/education as well as the many blessings we have here in our country as it relates to health care and access.”
Dr. Jacobson has visited Guatemala several times over the past 15 years through Medical Missions Foundation and Woodland Public Charities. She noted the major differences between practicing audiology in the U.S. and developing countries like Guatemala:
“We worked to bring as many of our usual tools as we could, but there is no way to have all the of the equipment you would have in the states. Over time, the hospital we worked at built a makeshift sound-isolated booth, but in my experience, audiology care in Guatemala is very difficult to access and very expensive. Routine hearing testing is not common and with the indigenous populations we worked with, births were done at home, so infant hearing screenings were not available.”
However, community members often supported one another with creative adaptations like sign language and pooling funds for those who needed hearing care.
“Many communities would put their resources together to help pay for a trip to the city for one of their residents to get care,” Dr. Jacobson recalled. “We also saw a lot of makeshift sign language created amongst families and loved ones.”
But perhaps the most powerful moment of her travels was one particular encounter with a patient that has stayed with her for many years since:
“I once worked with a woman who had Treacher Collins Syndrome. This syndrome affects the bones of the face and can cause hearing loss. She described that her mother died when she was young and with her grief, she slowly felt the world get quieter and far away.
“In fact, it was changes in her craniofacial development as she grew, but her interpretation has stayed with me the entirety of my career. Truthfully, hearing loss of any kind impacts our connectedness with loved ones, so for her to experience such a great loss and then lose something that would let her work through her grief was really sad.”
Hope and help for hearing loss
Hearing loss does not have to mean losing those connections with friends, family and your community. Whether you are in the Kansas City area, rural Kansas, or across the globe, there is hope and help.
For those local to Kansas and Missouri, we encourage you to make an appointment at one of our eight clinic locations for a comprehensive hearing evaluation. Getting a hearing test is the first step to helping yourself hear your best.
And if you would like to provide support for those in lower-resourced parts of the world to access hearing care, Dr. Jacobson recommends that you look for an organization that has a history of working in partnership with specific communities and is building an infrastructure that will continue over time.
Caring for your hearing health is a journey that begins at birth and continues for the rest of your life. Let us join you along the way and help you hear your best for life!
Make an appointment at Associated Audiologists.
1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss
