Durban – The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health audiologists and other health experts from the province are seeing an increasing number of young people with hearing problems.
In a statement on Sunday, the department said hearing loss is the most common sensory impairment world-wide, and affects more than 12 million South Africans
The department said the increasing number of young people with hearing problems is due to excessive usage of devices such as earphones and headphones, as well as exposure to loud music from nightclubs and cars.
This was revealed during a discussion hosted by KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane in Durban on Friday to commemorate World Hearing Day, under the theme “Accessibility of hearing care for all.”
Dr Andile Sibiya, who is a surgeon and head of Otorhinolaryngology (the study of diseases of the ear, nose, and throat) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, participated in the discussion.
Sibiya was part of a team that performed KwaZulu-Natal’s first cochlear implants in the public health sector in 2021.
According to Sibiya, more than 75% of hearing loss is preventable or treatable.
She said the rate of people with hearing loss is rapidly increasing in Africa and that If nothing changes, the continent will carry the world’s highest burden of hearing loss by 2050.
“Most of the causes of hearing loss are preventable or treatable. For instance, some of the causes of hearing loss are diseases that can be vaccinated against, or those that are linked with proper sanitation.
She said other causes, such as HIV and TB, are diseases that can be managed through prevention or by taking medication correctly.
“The other big thing … is a growing trend of hearing loss that is becoming more prevalent, especially within the 18 – 35 age group, that is linked to listening devices,” said Sibiya.
Sibiya said this is linked to excessive noise from cars, earphones and from parties.
“We’ve started seeing younger people present with severe hearing loss from the ages of 35 and 40 … which is something that we’ve normally seen among elderly people. It’s a problem because these are young people who still need to work, travel the world, and see things, yet they have hearing loss that is quite significant,” she said.
Sibiya urged the public to think about their future and to remember that the effects of excessive exposure to loud noise won’t be seen today, but definitely a few years from now.
“We need to get used to listening to music for our own selves, not the other person,” she said.
Sibiya also cautioned against the use of cotton wool, sticks and other objects to remove ear wax. She said only medicinal glycerine is safe for such purposes.
“What we don’t realise when using cotton wool is that we’re actually stuffing the wax further into the ear. The way the ear is designed… is that it’s not a straight tube. Its canal actually decreases in size the deeper you go into it. So, by using cotton wool, you’re causing damage, and then problems arise. We’re seeing a number of people with problems that are caused by things like cotton wool,” she said.
In addition, the MEC gave the recently launched KwaZulu-Natal Auditory Implant Programme (KZN-AIP ) a thumbs-up.
Simelane said the department would be widening its net to provide assistance to more people with hearing problems, especially those in rural areas.
“We take our hats off to Dr Sibiya and her team, because they’ve asked the government that they work for, for the establishment of this programme, which is a first of its kind in the province,” she said.
Simelane said the programme now has a long list of people who need help.
“We’ll go to rural areas and conduct assessments, to gauge the level of need for this kind of service,” said the MEC.