TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Commisison calls for action to prevent, address deafness
A national commission has called for more sophisticated and tangible methods to address the rising number of hearing-impaired persons
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A national commission has called for more sophisticated and tangible methods to address the rising number of hearing-impaired persons.
“Indonesia has a high rate of people with hearing problems... the people need to be legally protected from those problems,” Damayanti Soetjipto, the head of the National Commission for the Mitigation of Hearing Impairment and Deafness, told The Jakarta Post last weekResidents in urban areas such as Jakarta are constantly exposed to high levels of noise.
Bulantrisna Djelantik from the Southeast Asia Hearing Society said earlier this year noise levels in big Indonesian cities reached 80 decibels, 10 decibels over safe limits, with noise in malls and family recreation areas reaching 97 decibels.
According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Multi Center Study in 2008, Indonesia, whose population was estimated to have reached 229 million that year, has a 4.6 percent prevalence rate for deafness.
This puts the country among four of Southeast Asian nations that have high prevalence of deafness, along with India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
The 1994-1996 Health Survey on Vision and Hearing, conducted in seven provinces in the country, revealed 0.4 percent rate of total deafness.
“This means that around 800,000 of Indonesians are deaf,” Damayanti said in a workshop in Bogor last week.
Several of the factors inducing hearing problems were noise pollution, especially in urban areas, and loud sounds emitted by speakers and earphones.
Damayanti said many people were unaware of the hazards of loud music in places of entertainment or from gadgets such as mp3 music players, if the users fail to tune down the decibels of the sounds.
The ignorance extended even to high-ranking officials, she added.
The government issued a ministerial regulation in 1996 that regulates the level of noise in every city but it had hardly been enforced.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is the prevalence of newborns with hearing problems, which can evolve into deafness and consequently might lead to speech problems, Damayanti said.
“Hearing problems among newborns can be prevented if the mother is provided with enough nutrition.”
Damayanti said newborns should be screened for hearing problems to provide early tackling methods before those newborns reach six months of age. These methods include implanting devices to aid their hearing.
Unfortunately, not all hospitals have conducted such screenings, and after six months, it might be too late for the children, she said.
“If they do not get hearing stimulation before six months, their [hearing] nerves might shrink.”
She added nutrition plays a large role in preventing the deafness resulting from respiratory infections.
Indonesia, in line with WHO’s Sound Hearing Program, aims to reduce by 50 percent the rate of preventable deafness by 2015. By 2030, the target will be to reduce it by 90 percent.
“Fifty percent of the causes of deafness, such as infections and noise pollution, are preventable,” Bulantrisna, a participant at the workshop, said. (dis)
