Deafness, a Social Stigma: Physician Perspective

Abstract

Hearing is an essential sensory sense of an individual for development of speech which is crucial for verbal communication and personality development. It is the second most common form of disability after loco motor disability in India. Disabling hearing loss is more than 40 dB hearing loss in better ear in a person more than 15 years of age and greater than 30 dB hearing loss in better hearing ear below 14 years of age. WHO estimated 360 million individuals in the world with disabling hearing loss, out of which 91 % are adults and only 9 % are children. Early and accurate identification of birth asphyxia, hyperbilirubinemia, auditory neuropathy Presbyacusis and avoiding noise pollution and discouraging use of mobile phone, tobacco chewing/smoking, in those who are prone to deafness, an intervention is a must to decrease deafness from our society. Deafness prevention can only be possible with mutual cooperation with dedication of different medical and non-medical personnel and also by helping the persons with deafness. We have to focus not only on the children but also on senior citizens as most alarming, up to 40 %, incidence of deafness is in senior citizens above the age of 75 years. Timely cure and preventive measures are essential for better socio-economic state of the country. By helping the persons with deafness, we will not only be doing a great service to the Nation but also to the society at large.Keywords Deafness Á Presbyacusis Á Neonatal Jaundice Á Birth asphyxia Á Hyperbilirubinemia Á Auditory neuropathy Á Incidence Á Noise pollution Á National Deafness Programme Á NPPCD Á RBSK Hearing is an essential sensory sense of an individual for development of speechwhich is crucial for verbal communication and personality development. Hearing impairment is one of the most frequent sensory deficits in human beings. It is the second most common form of disability after loco motor disability in India [1]. Deafness is like any other human deficiency like blindness, orthopedic problems or any other kind of deficiency/physical challenge. Hence it must not be considered as a social stigma and it needs to be treated at par with other disabilities/physical challenge. Government has social obligation to do whatever is feasible to control and prevent deafness and give similar facilities/privileges to people suffering from any disability/physical challenge.Disabling hearing loss is more than 40 dB hearing loss in better ear in a person more than 15 years of age and greater than 30 dB hearing loss in better hearing ear below 14 years of age.WHO estimated 360 million individuals in the world with disabling hearing loss, out of which 91 % are adults and only 9 % are children [2].Prevalence of disabling hearing impairment in South East Asia in children is 2.4 %, and adults below 65 years are 9.5 %. The prevalence of deafness is as high as 48 % in population above the age of 65 [3].The prevalence of hearing loss in children has inverse relation with parents' literacy. Amongst adults, only 20 % would benefit from h...

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