South Africa has more than four million deaf and hard of hearing people. Technology in the form of hearing aids and cochlea implants has taken sound to the next level but batteries for hearing devices can be pretty costly. The average hearing aid consumer purchases about 96 batteries per year, assuming the hearing aids are being worn between 14 and 16 hours a day. The more complex processing the hearing aid is performing, the quicker the batteries will drain. For instance, if the hearing aid wearer is engaged in noisy conversations for most of the day – which most children are - their hearing aid is doing more work than the wearer who is home alone most of the day. And so ‘Catch Sounds’ was born - a campaign that aims to raise funds to provide batteries for hearing aid and cochlea implants for every deaf child in need in SA. Before I received my bi-lateral cochlear implants I was the deafest person in the late ’80s in South Africa and wearing Swiss Phonak Hearing aid
Miss Deaf South Africa's Blog