Every year on March 3, it is World Hearing Day. On this day in 2021, the group who received an APH Quality of Care innovative research grant, announced the first findings of their research into the impact of corona for people with hearing impairments.

The Netherlands Longitudinal Study on Hearing (NL-SH) is a web-based cohort study in the Netherlands, examining the relationship between hearing impairment and several aspects of life in adults aged between 18 and 70 years. In 2020, Sophia Kramer (professor auditory functioning and participation at VU Amsterdam) and her research group received a grant from the Quality of Care program, to send out a questionnaire to the participants of the NL-SH.

The corona pandemic resulted in measures disadvantageous for people with hearing impartments, like keeping 1.5 meter distance and wearing a facemask. The research shows that 45% of this population says that their hearing impartment has more impact on their life than before the start of the pandemic. Moreover, 90% of the severe hearing impartment cases reports bad to very bad audibility when people wear a facemask. 

It make sense that people with hearing impairments make use of lip reading, which is complicated when wearing a mask. Additionally, the 1.5 meter makes it even harder. Furthermore the research shows that wearing a hearing aid together with a facemask also causes trouble. People lose their hearing aid regularly by putting the mask on and off.

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Read the article published in 'Noordhollands Dagblad'