Although persons of letters and high level of education, some people do not understand a word of what others say.
Loss of hearing is a problem that is fast becoming rampant among our people and according to reports, the number of New Zealanders with hearing loss would rise dramatically (from 700,000 in 2012) to 1.08 million in 2036 and to about 1.5 million in 2061.
National Foundation for the Deaf is coordinating efforts with the New Zealand Audiological Society to raise awareness among New Zealanders and help prevent hearing loss.
Foundation Chief Executive Louise Carroll said that an Australian research (Listen Hear Report) has quantified the impact of hearing loss and estimated both the financial costs and the loss of wellbeing.
“Such analysis is important to inform policy making and direct scarce health resources to preventative and therapeutic interventions that are most cost effective. When we apply these research findings to New Zealand in 2012, the cost of hearing loss per capita would be about $2.83 billion (1.4% of GDP),” she said.
According to Ms Carroll, there is no definitive research on the full economic impact of hearing loss in New Zealand, despite the large proportion of people with the problem.
Intervention measures
“A significant amount of hearing loss (37%) is due to excessive noise exposure, which is preventable. We must invest in proven intervention measures including (a) funding a National Research Project to quantify population estimates on hearing loss (b) establishing a National Hearing Health Committee to represent issues to Government and (c) ensuring hearing loss prevention is on the agenda of all government education and health promotion initiatives,” she said.
Ms Carroll also emphasised the need to formulate a Strategy to support public policy planning, implementation and delivery of services.
“The Foundation works towards a society which understands and acknowledges the importance of hearing loss and a society that respects the rights of all hearing impaired and deaf people,” she said.
