Early diagnosis of hearing loss is very important!

Üsküdar University Vocational School of Health Services organized an online event titled "World Hearing Day". The event was attended by the Head of the Audiometry Program of the Vocational School of Health Services, Instructor Elifnur Taşdemir Er and Audiometry Program Instructor Ayşe Gül Elsharkawy attended. At the event, information was given about hearing loss and ear diseases, and it was pointed out that systematic screening is very important for the diagnosis of hearing loss and ear diseases. It was mentioned that early diagnosis is important in hearing loss.

There was a large participation in the online event.

Instructor Ayşe Gül Elsharkawy: "Early diagnosis is very important in hearing loss"

Pointing out that systematic screening is very important for the detection of hearing loss and ear diseases, Audiometry Program Instructor Ayşe Gül Elsharkawy stated that "Hearing screenings are one of the systematic screenings that are recommended and that we perform continuously. These hearing screenings can be performed in newborn babies and children, preschool and school-age children, workplaces, adults or elderly groups and early detection can be made. Early diagnosis is very important in hearing loss. In groups that cannot be done, solutions can be considered. Again, the World Health Organization has its own hearing screening application. Such an application has been developed so that you can do your hearing screening yourself. The hearing test performed here is not one hundred percent effective, this is not a test that can be diagnosed definitively. In the same way, you can see similar applications on YouTube. A sound was sent at a certain frequency, it was shared on YouTube. It says here at what frequencies you can hear, and you can see it in these videos. We need to pay attention to such things. And these are not the things that determine whether we hear or not. Any test that is not performed in Audiology units or Audiometry units in the clinical setting does not have the effect of definitive results and diagnosis."

"Hearing aids do not act as glasses"

Mentioning that it is a big mistake to think that hearing aids are a device that eliminates the problem like glasses, Elsharkawy stated that "When we wear glasses, we can clearly see an object directly; however, when we wear hearing aids, we cannot make sense of the first thing we hear in that sense or not, and sometimes we cannot hear sounds very clearly. The sound we hear may be different because it does not sound very normal to us and we hear it for the first time. Therefore, the situation is not the same as in glasses. Therefore, it is very valuable to raise awareness of hearing aids, and hearing aids alone are not enough to understand what the staff is saying in crowded environments. It is a pleasing situation for the hearing impaired to have such systems."

Instructor Elifnur Taşdemir Er: "Awareness-raising training course can be given about the danger of noise pollution"

Underlining that loud environments have negative effects on hearing health, Vocational School of Health Services Audiometry Program Head Instructor Elifnur Taşdemir Er stated that "When we go to a wedding or a concert, especially if you are standing next to the loudspeaker, when you leave that place, you may experience buzz or some ringing, especially in the silence of the night. However, when you rest for a while, spend hours in a quiet environment, for example, when you wake up the next morning, you may notice that your hearing has returned to normal. We refer to this as 'temporary threshold shift' in the field of Audiology. If hearing loss is detected at that time when exposed to high-intensity sound, it can be seen that the threshold shift worsens slightly. Depending on the intensity of the sound you have been exposed to for a certain period of time and the duration of exposure, and there is a possibility that it will return to the previous state. However, this exposure is higher than the safe level of severity, and that exposure means hours, days, months, and now this permanent threshold shift. Therefore, what should be done for this? In fact, it requires a multi-pronged approach that includes environmental and personal interventions. Therefore, noise-reducing technologies need to adjust the environment or protect it on a person-by-person basis. In occupational and urban settings, such initiatives can help reduce noise levels, and if we talk about protection on a personal basis, personal protective equipment such as earplugs or headphones play a role in providing the necessary protection in high-severity situations. Awareness-raising training courses can be given to the public and people working in noisy places about the danger of noise pollution, and the effect of this can be increased with awareness campaigns."

The event ended after the questions of the participants were answered.

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)