Heading the clarion call for Deaf Awareness Month this November
BY KATRINA MENNEN A. VALDEZ, REPORTER

Only a few have heard about a report that almost 40 percent of Filipinos suffer from hearing loss. Little do people know that half of these cases are preventable. The latest study conducted by the UST-Medical Hospital shows that some 28.1 percent of Filipinos suffer from hearing impairment, while 8.1 percent are totally disabled from hearing.

Dr. Raymond Belmonte—an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist and surgeon at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Medical Hospital—says that in most cases, cleaning the ears with cotton buds more often than necessary leads to hearing impairment.

“Proper hygiene is very big in the Philippines. As they [children] grow older it becomes a habit like almost every after bath, they would use [cotton] buds to clean their ears,” Belmonte notes.

Belmonte, who is also a fellow at the Carolina Ear Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina in the US, explains that cerumen or earwax is there for a reason. It lubricates, cleans and protects the middle ears from infection.

The 43-year-old doctor points out that cleaning the ears too much would push the earwax inside, thus blocking the opening of the ears. This could lead to hearing loss.

“The outer half of the ear produces earwax to lubricate and protect the inner ear. It is the ears’ natural process to clean and protect itself. Hence, you have to make sure that when cleaning the ears with cotton buds it should only be limited to the outer ear, just so it [earwax] won’t show,” he elaborates.

Citing his recent experience during a medical mission in Fairview, Quezon City, Belmonte shares that a young man was complaining of two things: a hearing loss in his left ear and balance problems, adding,
“When I checked his ear, and saw that he had an impacted earwax, we were both surprised because the cerumen was really huge.”

“The young man got very emotional and burst into tears because finally, he said, he could hear once more with both ears, and that he is again, in total control of his balance,” Belmonte recalls. Ear problems also affect a patient’s balance, explains Belmonte.

Other common cause of hearing loss

Dr. Belmonte says, that another ordinary cause of hearing loss is otitis media or inflammation of the middle ear.

This may occur as a result of sore throat, allergies or respiratory infection. But most of all, prolonged cold could adversely damage the ears, thus leading to draining ear.

“Nasal infection, would initially present pain and pressure in the ears, and if this goes unresolved it may lead to ear drum rupture causing draining ear or luga,” Belmonte explains.

To prevent this from happening, nasal infection should be treated promptly by a physician. When it has already developed to draining ear, the perforated eardrum should be repaired through surgery. At the very least, a patient needs to use a hearing aid to augment sense of sound.

“Since the common cold is not fatal, and from the word itself, it is ‘common,’ Filipinos take it for granted.
But little do they know, prolonged cold is an outset of more serious complications,” he warns.

Causes of hearing loss include: noise, drugs, old age and congenital. German measles, syphilis, herpes and other similar illness during a mother’s pregnancy can put infants at high risk of hearing loss.

Dr. Belmonte emphasizes that there is an urgent need to rehabilitate or treat prelingually deaf individuals (congenital deafness) before the age of seven or eight. “After that age, it would be hard to stimulate the hearing part of the brain to understand sounds and speech,” he explains.

Understanding various treatments

Today, there are various medical options for the hearing impaired and profoundly deaf. These include hearing aids, repair of eardrums and cochlear implantation surgery.

Unlike externally worn hearing aids that simply amplify sound for the hearing impaired, cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly transmit electrical signals to the auditory nerves with electrodes. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear that receives sound waves and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin that transmits electrical impulses directly to nerves. These are used for the profoundly deaf.

Cochlear implantation was first introduced in the Philippines 12 years ago. Today, only five surgeons are qualified to perform the operation. Moreover, it is expensive; the procedure costs almost P1 million.

Real life stories

A year ago, 70-year-old Conchita Dacanay woke up with sudden total hearing loss. She panicked and became hysterical as her family members raised their voices in an effort to make themselves be heard. To her dismay, her world has been silenced.

“I was really terrified that morning. I didn’t see it coming since it did not happen gradually. And even if I am already old I enjoy a very active social life in the church and I still do my profession as a midwife,” Dacanay recalls.

“I told myself, I’m already deaf, and I don’t want to be deaf, how about my social responsibilities, my making a living? Most of all, it was so depressing not to be able to hear a thing. I knew, deafness would likewise hasten the deterioration of my health,” Dacanay notes.

She told her children that she really wants her hearing back. However, a hearing aid would no longer suffice. A series of medical examinations found that she was already profoundly deaf.

She then went through a cochlear implantation surgery.

Currently, Dacanay is the oldest patient in the Philippines who has gone through the procedure. She is now able to hear again.

“This is what we call a good buy, I cannot trade this [cochlear implant] for anything else. This brought back my life. I am alive again,” Dacanay shares.

Beating the time

Mutia Aldama, a 29-year-old housewife of a low-income family, learned that her daughter Mikaela has been born with severe bilateral hearing loss.

“I honestly did not know what to do. My husband only works as a purchaser in a medium-sized food company,” Aldama shares.

Aldama joined the Parent Council for the Welfare of the Hearing Impaired Children Inc. to seek support.

“On the sidelines, I would make my own mini fund raising events through organizing a raffle game, just so I could start saving for my daughter’s surgery,” she reveals.

But she was running against time. Her daughter’s doctor told her that her daughter needed to undergo the operation before she exceeds the age of 7 or 8.

“Prayers kept me all these years. But at the same time I knew that I have to really go out of my way to raise the amount for the cochlear implantation. I went to various agencies such as the Firsthand Foundation Inc., the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office [PCSO], Manila Hearing Center, Parent Council for the Welfare of the Hearing Impaired Children Inc., and Better Hearing Philippines,” she recalls.

After several years, and my child turned 6, I was able to pay for her cochlear implantation. Now she is undergoing her speech therapy and could easily hear already,” Aldama attests.

Aldama says that what she has accomplished for her daughter should inspire other disadvantaged parents who have deaf children, saying, “What places poor and rich parents on equal footing is that giving up is never an option. Prayers, hard work and humility always pay off.”

Deaf awareness

During this month of November, several government agencies, academe and medical institutions, and nongovernment organizations are holding a Deaf Awareness campaign nationwide aimed at education, assisting and offering free ear screenings and financial aid to the deaf and hearing impaired.

One nongovernment agency that has always been persistent in its advocacy to combat hearing loss in the country and provide financial support to the indigent deafs is the Better Hearing Philippines Inc. (BHPI).

BHPI commits itself to assisting the government in the prevention of hearing loss, providing primary health care based control of hearing impairment and organizing community-based improvements in the quality of life for hearing impaired individuals and their families. This is accomplished through developing community awareness on the causes and consequences of hearing impairment; training health care providers, teachers, volunteers for the early detection of hearing impairment and basic ear care; and, within its capacity, providing hearing devices to indigents.

BHPI started in 1999. However, just like almost all other nonprofit organizations, difficulties in sourcing funds and the volunteer support staff forced them to close down to temporarily. BHPI began to operate again in April 2002.

Today, BHPI continues its advocacy for better hearing by educating the public through seminars and by encouraging other groups to combat hearing loss in the country.