Free Hearing Test

Deaftronics would like to give a gift of hearing to children from marginalized communities.

In Botswana and most developing countries the issue of hearing loss is an all-too-common reality with the world health organization estimating that over 626 million people globally having disabling hearing loss almost two thirds of which come from low to middle income countries. One of the main reasons for this discrepancy is the access to the screening tests needed to diagnose hearing impairments. Where in most developed countries there is on average one audiologist for every 20,000 people, while in developing regions, such as Africa, that number can be one for every two to six million people. This extreme shortage of health specialists means that most impairments go undetected and unmanaged for a larger number of individuals across the globe. In addition to access, the combined costs of traditional hearing aids, $1800, and batteries, $1/week, is far out of the price range for many individuals in developing countries.

We realized that in order to meet our goal of lowering hearing loss and its burden we would need to bring the hearing assessment and resources out to the communities that lack access to specialist or the ability to pay for high-cost equipment. This is where mDREET comes in. mDREET, which stands for mobile, Detection, Research, Education, Equipment, and Training, is a tried and tested health care program that looks to break down these barriers to by taking holistic approach to solving the challenges posed. With our innovative smart phone hearing test app, pure tone, we managed to bring a cost effective and mobile way to screen for hearing impairments to those communities that traditionally lacked access.

If hearing impairments are detected and addressed at an early age, it can prevent speech impediments and subsequent marginalization of an individual and ensures that the child can fully benefit from education through regular local schools rather than falling behind due to the hearing impairment.

With your support we will be able to detect hearing impairments in adults and children as young as 3 years, therefore making hearing tests available even in remote rural areas.