The conversion of the 24-hour mother and child clinic into a 12-hour clinic will free up space at the Medical Center in Elandsdoorn. The Medical Center comprises two building complexes. In one, the basic healthcare services and research wards will continue to operate as before. The audiology clinic will have its new home in the other building, which is now empty and no longer used for inpatient admissions.
Hearing services are becoming increasingly comprehensive:
At the beginning of May, the employees of the Audiology Clinic completed a comprehensive course on hearing aids. This not only includes how to wear, clean and care for these devices. It is also important to know how to change the battery and how to check whether the battery is still working. Basic troubleshooting was also part of the course, as well as checking the causes of possible whistling or no sound at all. The members of the community expect the clinic staff to know about these things and be able to help at any time.
Technology is also finding its way into the field of hearing screening. Since the beginning of March, the Audiology team has been able to carry out South Africa’s first test that enables hearing screening via smartphone. The test is simple and easy to use and takes about 2 minutes. The team members who have already used it don’t want to stop testing. Not only the ease of use but also the lightness in terms of weight is impressive. What now happens on the smartphone is in stark contrast to the previous heavy devices that had to be set up for screening. Thanks to the fast functionality and ease of use, more people can be tested in the same amount of time than before. And the smartphone test also has an automatic noise level sensor. If the background noise is too disturbing, it sends a message to the tester.
Hearing screening is therefore constantly evolving and improving. This is also important, as hearing screening is one of the most important diagnostic tools in South Africa. HIV or AIDS increases the risk of hearing loss and inhibits speech development. Babies born to HIV-positive mothers are more likely to suffer from congenital hearing loss or develop hearing impairment over time as a result of the viral infection. The loss of hearing inevitably has far-reaching emotional, social, but also professional and therefore economic consequences. This is why monitoring is important for patients with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Hearing loss – as a non-communicable disease – is considered to be the most common sensory deficit in the human population. It is estimated that at least 41 million children under the age of 15 in developing countries live with hearing loss. This makes this disease a silent, overlooked epidemic in developing countries like South Africa. Since 2014, the Ndlovu Care Group has therefore been increasingly offering audiological examinations to promote health at the ear.
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