Medical experts have urged the Federal Government to make hearing aids affordable and available for the aged population in Nigeria.

They made the appeal on Friday in Abuja while commemorating the World Hearing Day, which is held annually on March 3.

At a sensitisation campaign to create awareness on hearing issues, Dr Ogugua Osiogbu, Head of Geriatrics Unit, National Hospital, Abuja, said that making hearing aids available and affordable for the elderly was very important to enable them continually engage with society.

“With increasing age there’s a big risk for hearing impairment, but I must also say that the very commonest thing that will actually cause hearing impairment in older adults is wax impaction.

“It comes with a very simple treatment, just putting a dissolvent and the wax dissolves.

“The other major cause of hearing impairment in them is what we describe as sensory neural hearing loss and for that they often require hearing aids and these are often very expensive for them to get.

“So our campaign to government and charitable organisations is to make these hearing aids available and affordable for older adults.”

According to Osiogbu, if the hearing impairments of older adults are not taken care of properly, all the information about custom and tradition they have to pass on to the younger generation will not be passed on.

She, however, advised that as people get older, they should avoid things that bring about hearing impairment.

The Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr Abba Gbadamasi, said that there was special attention on the aged because the body of the aged was not as fresh as those who were young.

“Naturally their body organs are tired and the risks are there that is why we look at that population and make sure that we risk access them and care for them and try to tell them how to avoid those challenges.”

Dr Undie NseObong, the Head, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department, said that the day was being commemorated to prevent and help people to be aware of so many things that might cause hearing problems.

According to her, if even a pregnant woman takes some drugs, it might actually cause that baby in the womb to become deaf.

“We just want to ensure that people do not cause hearing problems for themselves.

“For instance, it is very trendy right now to see people use their phones to listen to very loud music.

“There is something called noise induced hearing loss and it is as a result of excessive exposure to very loud sounds like the soldiers that are in the shooting ranges so all those things cause problems with hearing.

“We also do not want people to be using ear drops at random, people just walk into a pharmacy and buy an ear drop but some of those ear drops can actually cause hearing loss because people don’t know, they just use anything they like and it is very wrong.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the world hearing day, with the theme “Ear and hearing care for all”, is celebrated to highlight the importance of integrating ear and hearing care within primary care as an essential component of universal health coverage.