Hearing care heard at Shanghai Events and Conferences during CIIE

Hearing care is an integral part of the 'silver economy', and relevant education should be delivered in a professional and timely manner, experts said during a forum of Shanghai Events and Conferences, which were organized for the first time as part of the China International Import Expo.

"If a senior suffers from hearing loss, it can lead to great danger; and little awareness of the issue is even more dangerous," Shao Lei, head of the Institute for Accessibility Development at Tsinghua University, said at the forum co-hosted by the National Speech and Health Research Center and Sonova Group.

The national census in 2020 indicated that there are 220 million people in China estimated to suffer from hearing difficulties.

"Albeit 68 percent of them are only mild hearing impairments, but their problems may get degraded into serious hearing damage without early intervention," said Liang Wei, deputy director at the China Rehabilitation Research Center for hearing and speech impairment.

"We need to let people know the problem, and guide them through the journey of finding proper hearing care."

He called for better education of hearing care and better services.

Fang Fang, vice president of Sonova and its general manager in China, said it requires closer interaction among all to address the issue.

At the forum, Sonova, the world's leading firm providing hearing-care solutions, signed agreements with the government and academics to conduct public education and services, while it also debuted Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio, an AI-assisted hearing aid whose duo chips support neural network.