Hear Together is a pilot communications campaign on age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Hearing loss is an issue that affects over half of the population aged above 60 in Singapore. Though age-related hearing loss affects the elderly and the people around them (e.g. family and friends), many are still unaware of its various impacts and how to manage it. It is often a problem that is easily passed off as part and parcel of aging and hence no action would be taken.
The symptoms and progression of ARHL are silent and gradual and this makes it hard for someone to recognise their hearing loss at an early stage. As such, regular hearing screenings are increasingly imperative for the elderly to identify if they have early hearing loss.
Based on the campaign’s research findings, social influence is a factor that affects elderly intention to screen. In addition, there wasn’t any communication campaign addressing hearing loss in Singapore, and so the team sought to raise awareness through this campaign.
Watch the video below to see how a mother-daughter pair fare in a hearing-test challenge, using the hearWHO app.
The Highlights
Engaging the community through digital technology.
The campaign used webcomic series, screening testimonials, expert videos and a Facebook livestream to educate both the caregivers and the elderly. Pop-up booths at Heartbeat@Bedok were also organised to encourage sign-ups for hearing screenings.
These provided opportunities for the team to engage with the community, increase the awareness of this growing issue and answer any questions that they might have had. Many of those who approached the team were very curious about this topic, and were glad to have a convenient avenue within the community to get their questions answered.
Organising free screening sessions for the elderly.
Alongside key community partners such as Kampong Chai Chee Community Centre and the Singapore Association for the Deaf, the team organised free hearing screenings for 109 elderly participants. Out of these, about half were found to have some degree of hearing loss and the team was glad to have been able to provide the platform for the elderly to understand more about their hearing health and take mitigative steps to better care for their hearing.
Credible campaign that attracted the attention of experts.
The Singapore Association for the Deaf and a senior tinnitus counsellor from Changi General Hospital have expressed their interest to adapt the campaign’s learnings and content into their daily work with service users and patients.
The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
Language barriers between the team and members of the public.
The team encountered difficulties in speaking to some members of the public, due to language barriers. This might have impacted the accuracy of the team’s research and reduced the reach of their campaign.
Unforeseen changes due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Due to the escalation of the DOSCON level (from yellow to orange), large scale campaign events and screenings were cancelled by campaign partners. The team had to act fast and manage the crisis by scaling down all future offline activations, and expecting lower participation from members of the public.
Limited manpower.
During the on-ground executions (e.g. pop-up booths and hearing screenings), the team faced difficulties in getting manpower to engage the community and manage event flow.
Volunteers were activated to help out and proper scheduling systems were utilised to avoid overcrowding in any one slot.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
Developed more empathy towards caregivers.
The team managed to better understand the difficulties that caregivers faced to convince the elderly to care for their hearing health.
The team also learnt more about the elderly’s views on hearing loss and this knowledge on their perspectives can be passed on to campaign partners, to further improve the effectiveness of similar campaigns in future.
Able to source for more collaborating partners to assist in improving the hearing health of the elderly.
The team managed to increase the knowledge and awareness of age-related hearing loss in the Bedok precinct, and provided link-ups for their campaign partners (e.g. Singapore Association for the Deaf and Kampong Chai Chee Community Centre) should they wish to further their efforts in this area.
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