In Mexico, around 2.3 million people suffer from hearing disabilities. 50% are over 60 years old; Just over 34 percent are between 30 and 59 years old and about 2 percent are boys and girls.
The Ministry of Health, through its medical units, provides preventive, diagnostic and comprehensive specialized care services for any hearing impairment, as well as rehabilitation to improve communication and social integration of people living with this condition.
Hearing impairment can be congenital or acquired
One of the highly specialized units in hearing care is the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) “Luis Guillermo Ibarra Ibarra”, which has the largest area in Mexico in hearing health care and communication problems, in addition to the service of human communication therapy for rehabilitation.
Francisco Alfredo Luna Reyes, head of the Division of Audiology and Otoneurology at the INR, explained that during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, at least 967 first-time patients were evaluated, of which 37 presented hearing damage related to COVID. -19. In this institute, before the pandemic, approximately six thousand people were treated for the first time each year for hearing problems.
Attention should be paid to young children
Hearing impairment can be congenital (that is, you are born with it) or acquired, because it occurs at any stage of life. Family history of deafness, advanced age, exposure to intense sounds or loud music are the main causes of hearing problems.
Likewise, other risk factors for hearing impairment are diabetes mellitus, systemic arterial hypertension, middle ear infections, viral infections (such as chickenpox, measles or rubella), head trauma and use of some medications.
That is why parents should pay attention if their young child does not develop language, as this may be due to a hearing problem. Timely diagnosis of this hearing disability favors treatment and rehabilitation; So it is essential to perform neonatal hearing screening.
As for treatment, it will depend on the cause and, in some cases, hearing aids or cochlear implants, some other support device or surgery are necessary.
