Hearing Awareness Week (August 25 - 31) aims to highlight the issues faced by people with hearing loss.

To that end, Young Community Health staff will he holding an information session at Young Town Hall today between 10am and 2pm to promote awareness and education about hearing loss.

This is a perfect opportunity to discuss any concerns you might have with your hearing, or that of a family member.

Nurse audiometrist at Young Health Service Sue Lanham said hearing loss in Australia is mainly mild in nature, but one third of people experience a loss that is moderate or severe to profound.

“One of the main consequences of hearing loss is a reduced capacity to communicate,” she said.

“This can have a big impact on a person’s life chances through the reduced opportunity to get a good education, to gain competitive skills and employment.” 

She said this can put quite a strain on relationships.

The prevalence of hearing loss rises from one per for people aged younger than 15 years to three in every four people aged over 70 years. 

The number of Australians who are hearing impaired or deaf is increasing because of long-term exposure to excessive noise in the workplace, the environment and a result of an ageing population.

Hearing loss is projected to increase to one in every four Australians by 2050.

If hearing health issues go untreated this will increase.

“There are many people in aged care facilities who have not been diagnosed and sometimes their hearing loss is confused with dementia,” she said.

She said more needs to be done to address the level of unmanaged hearing loss in the community.

“Many people cannot afford to buy and maintain their hearing devices,” Ms Lanham said.

“A big challenge is the lifelong financial burdens of upgrading your devices and the never-ending cost of battery replacements,” she said.

Young Health Service has free hearing clinics for children aged nine months to 18 years of age and adults with a referral from their GP.  

Please contact 6382 8700 for more information.