• Many of the causes that lead to hearing loss can be avoided through public health
  strategies and clinical interventions implemented across the life course.
• Prevention of hearing loss is essential throughout the life course – from prenatal
  and perinatal periods to older age. In children, nearly 60% of hearing loss is due
  to avoidable causes that can be prevented through implementation of public
  health measures. Likewise, in adults, most common causes of hearing loss, such
  as exposure to loud noise and ototoxic chemicals, are preventable.
• Effective strategies for reducing hearing loss at different stages of the life
  course include:
  – immunization;
  – good maternal and childcare practices;
  – genetic counselling;
  – identification and management of common ear conditions;
  – occupational hearing conservation programmes for noise and chemical exposure;
  – safe listening strategies for the reduction of exposure to loud sounds in
  recreational settings; and
  – rational use of medicines to prevent ototoxic hearing loss.
• Common ear conditions, such as otitis media, can be treated medically and
  surgically; treatment lowers the rates of associated morbidity and mortality and
  can prevent or reverse the hearing loss attributed to such conditions.
• Changes in the modifiable risk factors encountered across the life course can
  help to maintain the hearing trajectory as a person ages and influence the extent
  of hearing loss experienced in later life.
• The adverse impacts of developing hearing loss or ear diseases at any stage
  during a person’s life course can be mitigated through early identification
  followed by prompt and appropriate interventions.
• Early identification of hearing loss and ear diseases is key to effective management.
  Advancements in technology provide tools that can identify hearing loss at any
  age. To facilitate this process, it is important to implement programmes that target:
  – newborns and infants;
  – school-age children;
  – all those at greater risk of hearing loss due to exposure to noise, ototoxic
  chemicals and ototoxic medicines; and
  – older adults.
• Hearing assessment and ear examination can be conducted in clinical and
  community settings as well as field settings. Tools such as “hearWHO” and other
  technology-based solutions enable screening for ear diseases and hearing
  loss to be conducted in school and community settings with limited training
  and resources.
• Once hearing loss is identified, it is essential that it is addressed as early as possible
  and in an appropriate manner to mitigate any adverse impact. Such early intervention
  strategies must adopt a person-centred approach, taking into account the individual’s
  communication needs and preferences, as well as available resources.
• Measures available to rehabilitate people with hearing loss include:
  – the use of hearing technology through hearing aids, cochlear implants and
  middle ear implants;
  – the use of sign language and other means of sensory substitution, such as
  speech reading, use of print on palm or Tadoma, signed communication; and
  – rehabilitative therapy to enhance perceptive skills and develop communication
  and linguistic abilities.
• The use of hearing assistive technology, and services such as frequency
  modulation and loop systems, alerting devices, telecommunication devices,
  captioning services and sign language interpretation, can further improve access
  to communication and education for people with hearing loss.
  The hearing trajectory of an individual across the life course is influenced by multiple
  factors, including public health strategies implemented at a population level, as described in
  Section 1. Section 2 outlines solutions for preventing hearing loss and ear diseases through
  a population-based approach and presents means for identifying and addressing these
  conditions in a timely and appropriate manner. Additionally, Section 2 focuses on public
  health strategies as well as technological advances that can enable prevention, identification,
  treatment and rehabilitation of hearing loss and related ear diseases.