The Departments of Pediatrics, and Community and Family Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bibinagar, organised an awareness programme on the occasion of World Hearing Day on Wednesday.
The theme for this year is ‘Hearing Care for All: Screen, Rehabilitate, Communicate’.
Undergraduate medical students performed a skit on the occasion, highlighting the importance of early recognition of hearing loss, screening and timely treatment.
The participants were informed that hearing loss may result from genetic causes, complications at birth, certain infectious diseases, chronic ear infections, exposure to loud sounds, use of ototoxic medicines, and ageing.
Hearing loss in children
In children, almost 60% of hearing loss is due to ear infections and birth complications that can be prevented through public health measures.
Institute director Vikas Bhatia highlighted the need for more community engagement, outreach programs and research in this area.
S.P. Ananth Rao, deputy director-Administration, and S Kalyani, additional medical superintendent of the institute, also attended the event.
Basic ear care
Mounika Reddy, Assistant Professor of the department of Pediatrics, spoke about basic ear care and the importance of newborn hearing screening.
