A “hidden” disability, associated with increased chances of depression and social isolation, are hearing disorders, which, in fact, in some cases are an indicator of dementia in old age.
“Mental Health and Hearing are closely linked and the ultimate goal of the new WHO campaign is to make hearing control and prevention a public health priority worldwide. There are various studies published in reputable medical journals, such as Nature, that show us a correlation between hearing problems at different stages of life, with problems with cognitive functions but also with problems related to mental health, ie with increased chances of someone having depression or social isolation “, says the professor of psychoacoustics of the Department of Medicine of AUTh Vasiliki Iliadou, speaking to APE-MPE, on the occasion of her lecture on” Recent data from the WHO on the effects of hearing disorders in mental health “, in the context of the conference” Mental Health Days 2021 “.
Ms. Iliadou notes that in a recent report on hearing, the World Health Organization clarifies in which cases of a hearing problem, approximately in middle age, there seems to be an increased chance of developing dementia in old age, while emphasizing that Irreversible hearing impairment at either peripheral or central level is a negative indicator. Referring to the hearing problems in childhood, she points out that there are children who, while having a normal audiogram, do not have a normal hearing function, ie they have a hearing processing disorder, as they can hear when there is silence, but find it difficult to hear when there is noise.
“This disorder of auditory processing is now clearly linked, in this report of the World Health Organization, with low self-esteem in children since it can not be diagnosed and therefore not treated, but also with the inability to make friends very easily, especially in large groups. In other words, these children prefer to play with a child rather than meet the needs of a group, where the children talk at the same time. Therefore, playing with a child, it is more difficult to make fun of them, to marginalize them. And of course it affects the academic part of the school and later, so their ability, in the future, as adults, to have a job, to be able to be mentally healthy and not only physically, and to be able, the potential they have to to use it in the best possible way “, explains Mrs. Iliadou.
At the same time, he notes that “the World Health Organization aims, through its report, in an effort to highlight this” hidden disability “of hearing disorders, pointing out that in addition to the economic part – that is, how much money society loses when it does not addresses these problems in a timely manner – there are parameters that can not be measured in money, such as those related to the ability of an individual to be functional in society and to be happy with himself. There is an interaction in both. So, the effort of the World Organization is to understand this little by little, so that it can be detected, diagnosed and treated as soon as possible, whether it is a child or an adult, for different reasons, of course “.
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