The President of Speech Pathologists and Audiologists Association in Nigeria (SPAAN), Prof Julius Ademokoya, yesterday raised the alarm that 8.5 million Nigerians have hearing impairments and studies have shown that the number is increasing.
Prof. Ademokoya also noted that Nigeria has less than 300 audiologists to attend to people with hearing issues, hence, he said, the need for government to encourage more people to become audiologists.
The don disclosed this while addressing some journalists at the Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, to commemorate the international month of hearing and speech for 2020, with the tagline: ‘Promoting Better Hearing and Speech in Nigeria.’
Organised by SPAAN in collaboration with Smile Train Incorporation, Ademokoya was supported during the press conference by the vice president of the association, Prof Oyedunni Arulogun, and a Consultant/Partner with Smile Train Incorporation, dealing with free surgeries for children suffering from cleft palate, Dr. Adeola Olusanya.
“We are in the era of danger of more people losing their hearing and speech systems. In 1999 when a research was conducted, more than 7.3 million people had problems with their auditory system in Nigeria.
“But the recent data revealed that the number has increased and currently 8.5million people in Nigeria have hearing problems”, he said.
Ademokoya, stated that people are daily exposed to things that could make them lose their hearing functions, including gunshots, abuse of earpieces, and noise pollution, adding that there has not been statistics to show the number of people that have speaking problems.
He suggested that government should come up with legislations that would make every parent to take their children to appropriate health facilities for early detection of hearing and speaking problems for treatment before getting out of hand, adding that when the problem is detected early, there are possibilities that the issues would be resolved.
Ademokoya advised government to set up centres in each local government, where people that have hearing and speaking problems can access healthcare, instead of travelling to the state capitals to access such healthcare, emphasising the need for people to protect their auditory system through hearing conservation.
In a bid to ensure better verbal communication culture, he advised government to ensure that every child is screened as early as possible for corrective surgery, saying introduction of speech correction as a subject at primary school level and speech education as general education study (GES) for students in tertiary institutions irrespective of courses of study, should be given attention.
