A Chinese hearing expert has called for improved medical and rehabilitation services for hearing-impaired people as a gap in supply and demand widens.
"The contradiction between rehabilitation supply and demand is especially prominent in developing countries," said Long Mo, deputy director of China Rehabilitation Research Center for Deaf Children during a forum on hearing impairment which concluded on Friday.
Despite more government effort in training professionals, improving scientific research and fostering online rehab centers in recent years, more should be done to bridge the gap, she said.
China has the largest population with hearing problems in the world, with nearly 30,000 hearing-impaired babies born each year, the center's figures show.
However, China had just under 400 graduates with bachelor degrees or higher in audiology in 2012, compared with about 600 graduates with doctor's degree each year in the United States, according to the center.
Long called for more extensive international exchanges and deepened cooperation in this regard.
Over 5 percent of the world's population, or 360 million people including 328 million adults and 32 million children, have disabling hearing loss, according to a World Health Organization report made public in March.
About one-third of people over 65 years of age are affected by disabling hearing loss.
