Hearing health access in developing countries.

Abstract

The developing world carries a disproportionate burden of hearing loss. Individuals with hearing loss in austere settings worldwide are also potentially impacted by their impairment to a greater extent owing to underdeveloped or nonexistent hearing health infrastructure. The purpose of this review is to examine the state of the literature on hearing health access in developing countries and identify areas for improvement. Over the last 10 years progress has been made in some areas, whereas other aspects of hearing health in developing countries have changed very little. There has been expansion of efforts to train primary care and local hearing healthcare providers to recognize and appropriately treat preventable causes of hearing loss in the developing world. Applications of telehealth to connect providers and patients in rural locales have grown. Adaptions of newborn hearing screening programs that better fit local resources and customs have been reported. There has been a considerable increase in interest, including cost-benefit analyses, with regard to the use of cochlear implants in the developing world. In spite of progress, the developing world still shoulders a disproportionate amount of the world's hearing loss, in particular chronic ear disease, and there is a paucity of well trained local hearing healthcare professionals to deal with the challenge. The role of international humanitarian efforts, telemedicine, and education is highlighted.