Chime, the national charity for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, has called on people in Galway to get behind its call for a national hearing screening programme for over 50s.<\/p>\n
It says men and women over 50 should be able to access regular hearing screening to guard against potential health declines in other areas.<\/p>\n
Chime says the measure must form part of a delayed National Hearing Care Plan \u2013 promised by the Government for June last year and urged lobbying of local TDs on the matter.<\/p>\n
It said regular screening for over-50s would improve wider health and mitigate against cognitive decline.<\/p>\n
Latest figures obtained by Chime record 1,976 on audiology waiting lists in Galway-Roscommon.<\/p>\n
An estimated 300,000 adults in Ireland live with significant hearing loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing loss is often treated as an inevitable part of getting older, but early identification and appropriate intervention can make a significant difference to health, independence and quality of life,\u201d said Chime CEO, Mark Byrne.<\/p>\n
The organisation says the Department of Health should outline a clear pathway for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, from early diagnosis and assessment, through to treatment and the provision of hearing aids, assistive technology and rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
It points to research from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA ) in 2023, highlighting a gap between hearing difficulties and access to technology, with only one in five older adults in Ireland who report fair or poor hearing using a hearing aid.<\/p>\n
TILDA also found that more than one in 10 older adults who needed hearing services, had not accessed them.<\/p>\n
The charity says the findings underline the need for earlier identification of hearing loss and better access to appropriate care.<\/p>\n
It wants screening for over-fifties included in the Department of Health\u2019s National Hearing Care Plan, which it says must be published without further delay.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation recommends regular hearing screening for adults from the age of 50 and has called on governments to develop comprehensive national hearing care plans.<\/p>\n
Chime states that while Ireland recognises the importance of early identification through hearing checks for children, access to hearing care is uneven.<\/p>\n
Overall, the most recent HSE audiology waiting list figures available to the charity show 23,119 people waiting for audiology services, including 11,150 children, with 37 per cent waiting more than a year.<\/p>\n
Chime estimates around one third of audiology provision is through the HSE, with the remainder through the private sector.<\/p>\n
The charity says this means many adults must meet the cost of hearing care themselves, with hearing aids costing between \u20ac1,000 and \u20ac4,000 per pair.<\/p>\n
\u201cTILDA findings show there is a significant gap between people experiencing hearing difficulties and accessing hearing technology,\u201d added Mr Byrne.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf only one in five older people reporting fair or poor hearing are using a hearing aid, we need to ask whether the current approach identifies and supports early enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also a growing body of evidence linking hearing loss with wider health and wellbeing, including cognitive decline and dementia. That should make hearing care a much greater public health priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut screening is only the beginning. People need a clear pathway from identification through assessment, treatment, hearing technology and ongoing support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearing screenings for Oireachtas members, organised by Chime, took place at Leinster House, as part of International Week of the Deaf.<\/p>\n
Sylvia Nolan (58 ), manager at Deaf Village Ireland in Dublin\u2019s Cabra, addressed Oireachtas members and shared her own experience of initially being reluctant to use hearing aids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly only realised my own difficulties when my mother was hospitalised in 2025. I could not properly hear the doctors, nurses and, at times, even my own mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough initially reluctant to use them, hearing aids have made a huge difference to my life. I feel more confident when I am out and can now follow conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did it for my Mam because I wanted to hear her. I am so glad I did.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chime, the national charity for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, has called on people in Galway to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[277471,88820,277470,959,237068,277472,3414,615,4500,277467,277466,103,277474,61,60,3319,277469,79200,277468,12636,16017,61299,415,277473,113923,277475,31614],"class_list":["post-657568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-advertising-marketing-nec","tag-assistive-technology","tag-audiology-services","tag-ceo","tag-chime","tag-deaf-village-ireland","tag-department-of-health","tag-dublin","tag-galway","tag-geography-of-europe","tag-geography-of-ireland","tag-health","tag-hearing-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-manager","tag-mark-byrne","tag-mayors-of-galway","tag-medical-terminology","tag-oireachtas","tag-prevention","tag-screening","tag-social-issues","tag-sylvia-nolan","tag-technology_internet","tag-tilda","tag-world-health-organisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}