Prof. Foluwasayo Ologe of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of University of Ilorin has called for hearing screening in routine medical tests in Nigerian healthcare systems.
He made the call in his research paper entitled “Hearing Loss: The Hidden Handicap”, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Wednesday.
March 3 is celebrated as World Hearing Day each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the globe.
Ologe said hearing loss was a hidden handicap and needed to be screened, so it could be identified early and appropriate remedy prescribed.
According to him, every opportunity of meeting patients in the hospital can be utilised to screen for hearing capabilities.
“Hearing loss is a significant handicap. The etiological factors of hearing loss can be congenital or acquired.
“The acquired causes include birth asphyxia, childhood infections such as measles, mumps, malaria and meningitis, trauma and noise exposures.”
Ologe, a Lecturer in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, UI, explained that the purpose of prevention of hearing loss was to fight factors that had the capacity to alter the normal functions of the ear and thus affect hearing thresholds.
He explained further that these factors could occur before a child was born, known as congenital cause, while those that occurred during birth known as acquired or peril-natal causes and onwards called post-natal.
According to him, trauma and hearing loss can be a simple blunt trauma to the pinna, laceration of the pinna, avulsion of the part or the whole of the pinna and complicated rupture of the lymphatic membrane, among others.
The expert in Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) disease said research he carried out in Ilorin on aetiology and causes of traumatic perforation of the tympanic membrane indicated that 55 per cent of the cases were due to assault from slaps.
He said 30 per cent of hearing loss was due to foreign body in the ear, 7.5 per cent to road traffic accident and 7.5 per cent to miscellaneous causes such as falling off a tree and welding sparks.
“However, 70 per cent of patients who were successfully followed up for three months healed spontaneously,” he said.
Ologe observed that family violence (spouses and siblings) was responsible for about a quarter of 23 per cent of cases of traumatic perforation of the tympanic membrane.
He added that further research in Ilorin and Iddo, Ekiti showed traumatic tympanic membrane perforation with accompanying hearing loss of 1.7 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.
The expert noted that challenges of combating hearing loss included genetic studies, which was not widespread and genetic counselling was limited.
He said that universal newborn hearing screening was not popular yet, and that early detection of hearing loss was not easy to come by, among others.
He, therefore, advised parents to observe their children and report concerns about hearing acuity to the physician immediately.
He enjoined government to strengthen immunisation scheme to help reduce acquired causes of hearing loss.
“Government should also make hearing aids available free of charge or at reasonable cost,” he appealed.
(NAN)
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