The World Hearing Forum is a global network of stakeholders promoting ear and hearing care worldwide. Members of this advocacy network facilitate implementation of World Health Assembly resolution WHA70.13 on “Prevention of deafness and hearing loss” and work to raise awareness for hearing care globally.

WHF membership applications for 2023 will are now open!

The call for submissions for the 4^th Edition of the WHO Health for All Film Festival (HAFF) is now open until 31 January 2023!

The HAFF aims to celebrate the art of short films as a means of raising awareness and promoting global health issues. 

WHO invites all video artists and video creators from all over the world to submit their short documentaries, fiction or animation films of three to eight minutes for the categories of better health and well-being and Universal Health Coverage in the context of vision and eye care and/or ear and hearing care. This is a great opportunity for film and video innovators in both communities to champion and promote these important areas of health.

A meeting of the core working group members was held at the WHO headquarters on 16-17 November 2022. The meeting brought together 36 forum members from across all regions to discuss next steps for the World Hearing Day, Make Listening Safe, and Changemakers’ work streams. Discussions focused on ways and means to amplify the reach and impact of the World Hearing Forum beyond the realm of hearing care stakeholders through engaging with a wider group of partners. It is planned to set up a task force for this purpose. Members of the World Hearing Forum can apply to be members of this task force. Read the terms of reference of the task force here and apply if you think you can contribute to this effort.    

World Hearing Forum Changemaker stories tackle societal misunderstandings about hearing loss and challenge related stigma.

Below you can read some of these stories which are also published on the Changemakers' Facebook group.

Katrin Manella

“Without a doubt, the pandemic has entirely changed all of our lives, not always for the better, but I, at least, have a positive story to tell.” shares Katrin Manella.

“Due to a congenital, bilateral, profound hearing loss, I was forced to compensate by lip reading from a very early age. In many ways, my eyes were my ears–enabling me to actively participate in a daily life. With support of my parents and family, I trained to be an audiologist and for more than ten years now, I have proudly worked for a hearing aid manufacturer in Switzerland.”

During the pandemic, the reality of working from home and using video calls for meetings brought a fundamental change in my life. Everybody directly faces the camera, which means that I can see my conversation partners directly from the front and close to me, which has simplified lip reading and ensured clear speech. Moreover, due to closed caption option I am now able to understand everything in large team calls. I was surprised to learn how relaxed conversations can be and how much information I previously used to miss.”

“Accessibility makes a difference and I wonder if others out there share my experience.”

Jacqueline Drexler

“I have never known ‘normal’ hearing. All I know are the sounds I hear through my hearing devices that I have worn since childhood. Inspired by my audiologist and with unconditional support from my family I decided to become an audiologist. It felt natural for me to work with and help others living with hearing loss, like those who advocated for me.”

“Now working for a hearing aid manufacturer, I feel like I can make a difference for many people at once. I love being on the frontlines, contributing to the rapid improvements in technology, and translating these into end-user benefits.”

Hearing is one of the five senses we use in our everyday life, and without it, we may struggle to feel included in society. My hearing aid and cochlear implant are the most valuable items I own. The sounds they provide me give me great joy and I aspire to spread this joy to others around me.”

Yaduraj Choudhary
“Throughout my journey with hearing loss—a diagnosis in both ears, four surgeries, and a hearing aid—I’ve always been thinking about how to help those with hearing disabilities.” Says Yaduraj Choudhary, the founder and president of ‘3 Tiny Bones’ a student led NGO working destigmatize hearing loss, raise awareness, and advocate for hearing inclusion. “My passion led me to create 3 Tiny Bones, where I aim to destigmatize hearing loss, bring hearing loss education into the mainstream, and help prevent hearing loss in youth and future generations. I enjoy reading, learning anything new, playing outside with friends, spending time with my family, and cheering for all Philadelphia sports teams!”

The World Hearing Day 2023 with the overarching theme of ‘Ear and hearing care for all! Let’s make it a reality’ will be observed in 2023 with the message that ‘Over 60% of the needs of ear and hearing care can be addressed at the primary health care level’. The World Hearing Day working group of the forum has been undertaken several activities in preparation: 

• Creation of a dedicated World Hearing Day website: The website provides direct and easy access to all information and materials related to the World Hearing Day. 
• Preparation of the activity report for World Hearing Day 2022: The World Hearing Day working group of the Forum have prepared an illustrated report documenting nearly 400 activities in nearly 80 countries. The report can be accessed here. 
• Translation of World Hearing Day 2023 materials: The awareness materials for WHD 2023 including announcement, a poster, a banner, and social media materials are being translated into multiple languages (5 UN and 24 non-UN languages) through members of the World Hearing Day working group. All materials will be available here.  

All you need to know to celebrate the World Hearing Day 2023

To support the advocacy and celebration around the World Hearing Day, WHO has prepared materials that partners around the globe can use. WHO will host a webinar on 12 January 2023 to let you know how you can best celebrate the upcoming WHD 2023. 

Over one billion young people at risk of avoidable hearing loss 

In November 2022 WHO has published a scientific paper in the British Medical Journal on the risk of hearing loss due to unsafe listening among people aged 12-34 years. The paper provides a strong scientific basis for the WHO initiative to Make Listening Safe as a means of hearing loss prevention. The details of this were extensively covered by media and news agencies across the globe.  

Webinar on Using the Media brief for #SafeListening

A public webinar was organized on the topic with an interesting panel of speakers including Durgesh Jha, a journalist from India; Terez Lord, a youth advocate from Trinidad and Tobago; Amarilis Melendez from Ministry of Health of Panama; Stephen Wheatley, organizer of the Make Listening Safe-UK campaign; and Devangi Dalal, coordinator of the Safe Listening group on LinkedIn.  

If you missed the webinar, you can view it here. 

WHO-ITU global standard for safe listening devices and systems version 2 released 

The International Telecommunications Union in close collaboration with WHO has approved and released the second and improved version of the global standard for safe listening that recommends the integration and implementation of #safelistening features in smartphones and headphones with music playing capabilities.  

Watch the two short films released by WHO to raise awareness about safe listening among video-gamers and e-sports athletes.  Spread the word by sharing them on social media!

Meet Kate MCkintosh the young  New Zealander who is raising awareness on hearing impairment

The young girl invented an e-Whistle, a device to help people with a hearing disability play team sports by electronically signalling when the whistle is blown.

This simple innovation will allow people with hearing loss to better participate in sports such as football.

United States FDA authorizes over-the-counter hearing aids

Over-the-counter hearing aids are those sold directly by manufacturers or health care providers and can be set up, tuned, and adjusted by the wearer themselves (not requiring an in-person appointment with a doctor or audiologist).

We would like to give a warm welcome to our new members: Institituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Ministry of Health Seychelles. Ministry of Health, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Telangana Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists Association, Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences Sri Amritsar, AIIMS Deoghar , Canadian Society of Otolaryngology Head and neck Surgery (CSOHNS) - Otology Subspecialty Group , Kampala Parents of Children with Disabilities Association - Makindye (KAPCDAM) and University of Queensland.

Thank you to all the WHF members for their contribution this year. 
Best wishes for 2023!