The The theme of this year’s World Hearing Day «Hearing care for all» is particularly relevant for Europe, where access to hearing care varies greatly in different countries and regions. Estimated 197 Millions of people in Europe suffer from some form of hearing loss. According to a World Health Organization report on hearing from the year 2021, this number is expected to increase to 236  by 2050; millions.Failure to treat hearing loss can lead to social isolation, dementia, unemployment, poorer quality of life, and can negatively impact psychosocial and cognitive health.
Despite its widespread occurrence, people with hearing loss face significant barriers to access to hearing care, including long waiting times, limited availability of services and high costs. «Currently, no EU member state has national hearing programmes for adults,» said Patrick D’Haese, corporate director of awareness and public affairs at the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association. He spoke on 1. March 2023 at a midday debate of the European Parliament.
A key challenge is a Shortage of hearing care specialists In many European countries, there are simply not enough audiologists and hearing care professionals to meet the growing demand for hearing care services.Therefore, WHO has published a new practical guide for the prevention, identification and treatment of hearing loss for healthcare professionals and primary care physicians. «Excess of 60-_% of hearing care services needs can be addressed at the primary care level,» said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The cost of hearing aids is another challenge. While hearing aids are essential for many people with hearing loss, they can be prohibitively expensive, with prices ranging from several hundred to several thousand euros per device. In many countries, hearing aids are not covered by national health insurance, so people with hearing loss have to pay for themselves.
For example, adult hearing aids are not reimbursed in Spain, and even children do not receive adequate financial support.Italy has set a threshold of 55 dB as the minimum criterion for reimbursement. As a result, many people who would benefit from access to hearing care are left empty-handed. This criterion is in contrast to the WHO degrees of hearing loss and the associated hearing experience. It categorizes people with mild hearing loss (20-_to 35 dB) as people who may have difficulty listening to a normal conversation under noise conditions. People with moderate hearing loss (more than 35 dB) certainly have difficulty hearing and participating in a conversation taking place under noise conditions.
The positive news is that children, adolescents and young adults up to the age of 26 years in most countries.
Across the EU, unemployment, lost productivity and early retirement due to untreated hearing loss cost the Union an estimated 185 billion euros per year.This figure rises to 213  per year; billions of euros, taking into account the cost of non-medical expenses and other hearing loss-related comorbidities.
To address these challenges, it is important to raise awareness of the importance of hearing health and promote better access to hearing care. This includes enforcing policies that improve access to hearing care, such as increasing funding for hearing care services and increasing investment in training programmes for hearing care professionals. According to the report of the European Federation of Hard of Hearing PeopleEU governments receive 10 Euro consideration for each Euro, which is spent on hearing care. The report calls on European governments to develop and adopt national action plans and expert-led strategies to ensure equality, prevention and rehabilitation, and to provide equal opportunities for people with hearing loss.
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Source — https://www.univadis.de/viewarticle/europa-vernachl%25C3%25A4ssigt-thema-h%25C3%25B6rverlust-2023a10005u3