Breakthrough SA app helps identify disability

SOUTH Africa’s first mobile app to test hearing will be launched today.

“More than three million South Africans suffer from permanent, disabling hearing loss,” hear-ZA, the downloadable Android and iOS application’s lead-inventor, Professor De Wet Swanepoel said.

The app, developed and validated by the University of Pretoria, will provide every user with a free hearing test.

Research by Hear-Screen has found that unidentified hearing loss has far-reaching consequences including difficulty communicating, lower energy levels, and a higher risk of depression and dementia.

The two-minute test, sponsored by Sivantos, Oticon and the Ear Institute, requires users to listen to simple digits in noise.

On completion, every user will receive a unique hearing score.

To ensure appropriate follow-up services, those people identified with a hearing problem will be linked to their closest hearing health providers, based on their phone’s location. The South African Association of Audiologists and Speech Language and Hearing Association will partner with hear-ZA to build a national referral network where people can seek help if they are losing their hearing.

“This smartphone-based national hearing test is the first of its kind. Not only is it providing accurate testing but it also encourages hearing health awareness through a gamified user-experience,” Swanepoel said.

The test is set up like a mobile game and users can share their scores, invite others to take the test, view a scoreboard and connect with Facebook.