Sunday, March 3 marks World Hearing Day 2019 in partnership with the World Health Organisation. “Check Your Hearing” is this year’s theme with the purpose of drawing attention to the importance of early identification and intervention for hearing loss.
Hearing loss is an often-overlooked condition. Lead inventor of hearZA, Professor De Wet Swanepoel emphasizes the far-reaching effects of hearing loss on various developmental milestones in children. He explains that it affects language, speech, socio-emotional well-being and cognitive processes that can pose threats to educational success. Furthermore, social isolation, depression and cognitive decline are often evident among adults suffering from hearing loss.
hearScreen USA, the national U.S. clinically-validated hearing screening app is free of charge and can help Americans identify hearing problems – the first step in their journey to better hearing.
hearScreen USA was developed to be accessible to any American with a smartphone (Android or iOS) and any pair of earphones. By detecting hearing loss at an early stage, hearScreen USA can link people to their closest audiologist based on geolocation, in partnership with the American Academy of Audiology.
“With hearScreen USA, all Americans have access to quality hearing care from the palm of their hand, starting with a screening of their hearing status” – Dr De Wet Swanepoel.
Since its release in October 2018, over 7 000 people have used the app as a first step in their hearing health journey and have had an opportunity to connect directly to one of more than a 1 000 licensed audiologists registered on the network.
In support of this year’s World Hearing Day, the hearScreen USA app is serving as a free tool for Americans to “Check Your Hearing” emphasizing early identification and intervention. We aim to increase these numbers while working towards our continued vision of healthy hearing for everyone, everywhere.
Be sure to follow hearScreen USA on social media to see what we’re up to this World Hearing Day.