The Hearing Unit at the Faculty of Medicine, at Ain Shams University - a member of the World Hearing Forum - organized a celebration on the occasion of World Hearing Day, which the World Health Organization celebrates on March 3 of each year as a day of community awareness.

The celebration, hosted by Ain Shams Specialized Hospital, was held under the slogan (Changing Concepts of Hearing Impairment and Audiology), under the patronage of Prof. Mohamed Diaa Zain El-Abedeen, President of Ain Shams University, Prof. Ali Al-Anwar, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Chairman of the Hospitals Board of Directors, in the presence of a group of medical professors and a representative of the World Health Organization, in addition to students from the faculties of medicine and nursing and a number of employees.

Prof. Hala Sweid, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for Community Service and Environmental Development, emphasized the importance of the sense of hearing in communication between humans. Hearing impairment represents a global problem with serious consequences for individuals, societies, and the economy of countries. Therefore, it is important that we shed light on this problem and provide comprehensive awareness on how to deal with it and methods of prevention.

Prof. Nima Abed, representative of the World Health Organization in Egypt, spoke about the extent of the problem of hearing disability according to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization, and about the goals of World Hearing Day in raising awareness of hearing loss and the World Health Organization’s undertaking of prevention programs against hearing loss and encouraging initiatives for education and rehabilitation of hearing loss.

Prof. Lubna Al-Faqi, Head of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department, provided the services provided by the department, and Prof. Haitham Abdel Azim, Deputy Director of Ain Shams Specialized Hospital, thanked all the guests of the celebration, hoping to achieve the desired benefit.

Prof. Nadia Kamal, Professor of Hearing and Balance Medicine and coordinator of the celebration, gave an educational speech about the reasons for the increase in the problem of hearing disability, noting the importance of World Hearing Day in changing misconceptions about hearing loss and audiology at several levels, starting with patients and doctors, all the way to decision-makers. She moved to the attendees’ introduction to the World Hearing Forum.

Prof. Hisham Taha, Professor of Hearing and Balance Medicine, on behalf of Prof. Wafaa Al-Kholy, Head of the Hearing Unit, spoke about World Hearing Day and its goals.

This was followed by a dialogue session entitled (Ear Health and Hearing Impairment Diseases: Changing Concepts and Highlighting Facts), in which both Prof. Howaida Al-Jabali, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies for Childhood, Prof. Hisham Taha, Professor of Hearing and Balance Medicine, Prof. Walid Salah, Professor of Community Medicine, Prof. Mona Khalil from the Faculty of Nursing and Dr. Maryam Ahmed is a representative of the Fikra Student Family at the Faculty of Medicine. The session was moderated by Prof. Dalia Hassan, Professor of Audiology and Balance Medicine.

The dialogue session discussed some misconceptions about hearing loss, explored the various experiences of the session’s guests, and then addressed the problem of hearing loss, which is expected to increase in size in the coming years, starting with age groups of 12 years and above, as a result of continuous exposure to noise and the increasing rates of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and other related complications. There are several negative impacts on the academic level of children, the isolation of individuals, and the workforce.

The session resulted in several proposals, the most important of which is increasing cooperation frameworks between various parties for community education on how to preserve the sense of hearing and early hearing detection. Not only should precautionary measures against noise in work environments be limited, but rather workers must be educated on how to preserve hearing outside the work environment, also suggested conducting hearing screening before employment, in addition to periodic audio screening programs.

The celebration concluded with a lecture delivered by Dr. Ghada Muharram, teacher of audiology and balance, to educate the audience about the HearWHO program launched by the World Health Organization, which can be applied using smartphones to conduct a quick hearing scan.

The Audiology Unit, in cooperation with Amplifon Hearing Devices Company, distributed a booklet to attendees to raise awareness of how to preserve hearing.