World Hearing Day 2022: Noise pollution leading to hearing loss, experts

KARACHI: Noise pollution is a leading cause of hearing loss and has affected about 450 million people worldwide, experts said on Thursday and warned that the number of hearing-impaired people would reach 90 million by 2050.

“Noise pollution is a major issue in developing countries, including Pakistan, while continuous use of hands-free and headphones is resulting in hearing loss in people of all ages,” said Prof Atif Hafeez Siddiqui, an ENT specialist, while speaking at an awareness session on the occasion of World Hearing Day 2022 at the Dow International Medical College, Ojha Campus.

The session was also addressed by Dr Salman Matiullah, Dr Salman Ahmed, Dr Murtaza Ahsan and Prof Osaf Ahmed. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi Medical Superintendent Noor Muhammad Soomro, Dow Medical College Principal Saba Sohail and ENT ward head Prof Zeba Ahmed spoke to the gathering at the ENT ward.

Prof Siddiqui said the Covid-19 epidemic had led to a sharp rise in the number of people working online from home, leading to fears that people working online may be more likely to suffer from hearing loss.

“Online workers are advised to take a 10-minute break every hour during work,” he said, adding that the use of hands-free and headphones was more dangerous for hearing than loudspeakers.

Other speakers said the hands-free microphone keeps all the attention in one direction and there is constant pressure on the hearing as there is no pause, adding that in Pakistan people who are affected by noise pollution do not get an immediate diagnosis.

Due to hearing impairment, affected people do not understand what other people are saying and then they also do not react, which can lead to various perceptions about the hearing-impaired people, they said, adding that after the age of five, children with hearing loss face difficulties in treatment while the elderly consider hearing aids to be defective while they are also very expensive.

ENT specialists appealed to the government to take steps to reduce the cost of hearing aids or provide them to the people at low prices or at government expense.

They remarked that human-invented machines had facilitated humans on the one hand and increased noise pollution on the other. They added that other countries had reduced this pollution by setting strict standards, but in countries like ours noise pollution was increasing instead of decreasing.

Noise pollution in Karachi was very high at the Tibet Centre, they said, adding that hearing the sound of a motorbike without a silencer or aerial firing could suddenly affect hearing.

Earlier, health professionals and staff walked from the OT Complex to the OPD block at the Ojha Campus and also at the Civil Hospital.

Principal Dow Medical College Saba Sohail said there was a need for large-scale public awareness campaigns so that people could understand that hearing loss was a major problem.

Civil Hospital MS Dr Noor Mohammad Soomro said deaf children were not only treated but also trained at the hospital.