Amman- 5 November 2019

People with hearing loss and hearing impairment do not get sufficient support and affordable medical treatment and rehabilitation in Jordan. Studies conducted in Jordan about hearing loss result in an estimation of around 1.5% hearing loss among babies. A study in Jordan on 1,649 school-children (age 5-15 years) showed that 5.5% have a unilateral or bilateral hearing loss.

 These are alarming figures. In order to devise and further develop medical solutions with relevance to hearing loss that are adapted to the specific needs in Jordan and other Arab-speaking countries, a workshop was implemented at GJU from 30.-31.10.2019 with experts from Germany and Jordan.

The workshop provided a platform on the topic of hearing loss, including medical technology for diagnosis, treatment and remedy, but also addressed rehabilitation, counselling, education and speech therapy.

The participants from Germany with diverse backgrounds in the field of speech therapy, phoniatrics, hearing aid technology, and audiology together with the Jordanian attendees who represented speech and hearing therapists and researchers from universities, company representatives for medical supplies, as well as support organizations for hearing and speech defined the most pressuring challenges the country is facing.

As a result, two main fields of possible collaboration were defined: to establish a center for Hearing Care Professional (HCP) to improve the quality of rehabilitation through preparing qualified therapist with modern technologies and techniques and to further develop an application for patients wearing a hearing aid or cochlear implant at affordable cost level and adjustable by the user. Students of Dr. Nasim Alnuman from GJU’s Biomedical Engineering Department already developed applications in this field that now would need to be further developed and turned into businesses.

The workshop was implemented by GJU’s Office for Industrial Links and School of Applied Medical Sciences, developed in close cooperation with bw-i (Baden-Württemberg International) and supported by the DAAD in the frame of GJU’s Topic of the Year 2019 “Ideate Invent & Innovate”.

Contact at GJU:

Biomedical Engineering Department: Dr. Nasim Alnuman (Nasim.AlNuman@gju.edu.jo)

Office for Industrial Links: Britta Kähler (Britta.Kaehler@gju.edu.jo)

Contact bw-i (Baden-Württemberg International):

Dr. Gunnar Grah (Gunnar.Grah@bw-i.de)