Date:06/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/06/stories/2007100656810200.htm

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Karnataka - Bangalore

Eh? What was that?

Staff Reporter

If you have to say it once too often, then it’s time you did something about it

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Making a point: Steffi Ramlov, audiologist from Germany, addressing presspersons in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: A specialist audiologist from Germany will evaluate patients with hearing problems during a free hearing assessment camp at Rajan Speech and Hearing Centre from Monday.

Speaking to presspersons on Friday, director of the centre G. Krishna Kumar said that the camp would be held between October 8 and 10 during which Steffi Ramlow, a German audiologist and hearing aid acoustician, would be present.

On the occasion, the centre and GN Resound would start a state-of-the-art laboratory for servicing hearing aids.

Drawbacks

Ms. Ramlow said, “Urbanisation has seen major drawbacks on people’s health, with one of them being hearing impairment.

According to statistics available, in Bangalore, about 0.7 million people are estimated to have some form of hearing impairment.”

Factors

Immediate measures were needed to check this because hearing impairment affected the quality of life of an individual, and early intervention could be useful in checking the negative impact of hearing impairment, she said.

Among the factors responsible for hearing-related problems are the increasing use of iPods and the Walkman for long duration, call centre employees using headphones for nearly eight hours a day, indiscriminate use of antibiotics without consulting doctors and consanguineous marriage widely prevalent in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Contact

The camp will be held at Rajan Speech and Hearing Centre, and those wish to participate may call 22290737 or 22279807.