Mandaluyong, foreign firm unite for hearing screening

The Mandaluyong City government and Canadian hearing aid company earAccess Inc., with its local partner Fine Nutrition Trading International, have entered into a partnership called “Project Access: Save and Hear” to conduct hearing screening on children living in Mandaluyong.

The target of the hearing screening is Mandaluyong daycare center children and kindergarten up to Grade 4 pupils.

Out of 6,700 children in daycare centers in Mandaluyong, 2,800 kids have been screened, in addition to 5,000 aged five to 17. Next to be screened will be kindergarten up to Grade 4 pupils in the next six weeks, hoping to end before Christmas.

“Early intervention and identification for children with hearing loss is really important, which is why we are doing this so that they can be identified and intervention be conducted before they enter the school system. We don’t want these kids to lose the chance to learn to speak or not have access to education because of that,” said Esther Jamieson, project manager for earAccess Inc., during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding at the Mandaluyong City Hall.

Alberto Gonzalez, director of sales and business development at earAccess, said the project is complex given the large number of very young children. “It is one of the first times in the world that play audiometry was taken out of the clinic and applied in field conditions to a large number of children. We are all both proud and happy at the difference we are making in these children’s lives.”