Hearing impairment is more common than many parents realise. According to Venisha Naran, up to three out of every thousand babies are born with hearing loss.
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VENISHA Naran still remembers the moment she realised the little girl in front of her wasn’t just struggling with a second language - she couldn’t hear. In 2012, the Johannesburg-based speech-language therapist and audiologist was conducting a routine hearing screening for a Grade 1 learner at a private school. The referral came with a note: The school didn’t believe there was anything wrong with the child’s hearing; she had recently arrived from China and was struggling to understand English.
But when Naran tested the girl’s hearing, the results told a different story. To be sure, she screened her again. Then she sent the child home with a note requesting a meeting with her parents.
“It wasn’t the English she was struggling with,” Naran recalls. “She had hearing impairment in both ears.”
That simple screening changed the course of the child’s life. Over the years, Naran fitted her with three sets of hearing aids. Last year, the girl passed matriculation at a mainstream school and is now studying engineering. “If it had not been picked up, they would have just thought her learning issues were because of the second language, when in fact, she couldn't hear,” says Naran.
Hearing impairment is more common than many parents realise. According to Naran, up to three out of every thousand babies are born with hearing loss. Others develop it later due to ear infections, which can cause temporary or permanent damage if left untreated. The challenge is that young children often don’t realise they have a problem—they have no frame of reference for normal hearing.
“Most of the time, they just compensate for it,” says Naran. She recalls a little boy who had lost hearing in one ear. He instinctively turned his head to listen and used the phone on only one side. Neither he nor his parents knew why—until a routine hearing screening uncovered the truth.
“These kids often can’t tell you that they can’t hear,” Naran explains. “So they’re seen as the child who doesn’t listen, doesn’t follow instructions, or is oppositional. But in reality, they’re the child who can’t hear.”
Poor hearing can show up in ways parents might not expect. Some common signs include:
On their own, these signs don’t confirm hearing impairment—but they are reasons to get a screening.
Naran believes hearing screenings should be standard in schools, with an option for parents to opt out, rather than requiring them to opt in. Dr. Liza Street, a paediatrician and cofounder of Ajuda, a digital health information storage vault, agrees.
“Many parents don’t opt in to hearing screenings due to barriers such as cost and lack of awareness,” says Street. “Financial constraints can make screenings inaccessible, as parents prioritise essential expenses like food, housing, and childcare. Additionally, many may not realise how undetected hearing issues can affect their child’s speech, learning, and social development.”
Ajuda is working to solve this issue through a school screening program that not only conducts screenings but also securely stores results in a free digital health vault that children can keep for life.
“I think we need a better record-keeping system,” says Naran. “Right now, I send the original results to the parents, and all I have is a spreadsheet with the child’s summary. If the parents lose those results, they’re gone.”
This lack of permanent records is especially concerning for children with abnormal screening results. Even if a hearing issue isn’t severe enough to require immediate intervention, that baseline test provides crucial information that could help healthcare providers years later.
“Tracking changes over time, monitoring variations in results, seeing the impact of interventions as the child grows, and understanding their development are essential for long-term care,” says Taryn Uhlmann, cofounder of Ajuda and an advocate for preventive healthcare.
Naran has seen this problem firsthand. “With speech therapy, people have contacted me ten years later asking for an assessment report because they can’t find it,” she says.
By combining widespread school screenings with secure digital storage, Uhlmann and Dr. Street hope to give the next generation lifelong access to their personal health data.
“Having securely stored, easily accessible results means that no matter where your child goes in life, they will always have critical health information at hand,” says Uhlmann. “That ensures the care they receive is both comprehensive and holistic.”
To learn more about Ajuda or to create your own free Ajuda health vault, visit www.ajuda.co.za.