The Armenian Association of Hearing Rehabilitation Specialists, in collaboration with Erebuni Medical Center, is holding its first congress. More than 250 specialists from related fields have gathered under one roof, including otorhinolaryngologists (ENT specialists), audiologists, speech therapists, surdopedagogues, and other professionals.
To participate in the congress, leading experts in hearing, audiology, and hearing rehabilitation have arrived in Yerevan from Russia, Germany, Belarus, Georgia, and the United States.
The congress presents modern approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of hearing disorders. Special emphasis is placed on audiological screening of newborns and children under one year of age, contemporary diagnostic methods for various hearing impairments, the technological features of the latest-generation hearing aids and implants, as well as genetic hearing disorders and ear surgery.
Hearing loss is a serious global issue from both medical and social perspectives. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 500 million people worldwide currently have hearing problems. If effective measures are not implemented, experts predict that by 2050 the number of people with hearing impairments will reach 1 billion. Out of every 1,000 newborns, 2–3 children are born with hearing loss, of whom 1–2 have profound (total) deafness.
In the Republic, a neonatal audiological screening program has been in operation for many years, enabling the detection of hearing impairments and deafness already at the maternity hospital stage. It is well established that cochlear implantation, performed to restore hearing, is significantly more effective when carried out at an early age.
Taking into account the rapidly increasing incidence of hearing disorders and the scale of this global challenge, through the efforts of Vigen Bakhshinyan, Head of the Otorhinolaryngology Department of Erebuni Medical Center, Advisor to the Minister of Health on Surdology, and President of the newly established Armenian Association of Hearing Rehabilitation Specialists, Erebuni Medical Center has included the early detection and treatment of hearing disorders among its priority healthcare programs.
