Social stigma is still hindering people with hearing problems from using hearing aids, according to audiologist Andrew Sciberras.

“Many people who are aging are not doing what they should to be able to hear,” he said during a conference on assistive technology for independent living held at the University of Malta’s ICT Department.

Dr Sciberras said that 40 per cent of hearing loss happened after the age of  65. However, he believed the age may drop in future “because we live in a noisy world”.

More needed to be done to raise awareness about taking care of the sense of hearing and to combat the social stigma that was still very strong in Malta.

People were waiting too long before doing something about their hearing problems. Some were also discouraged from opting for hearing aids - or other assistant technologies like cochlear implants - because of the expense and the hassle of learning to live with them.

“There is a lack of information,” he said adding that assistive technology could help improve quality of life.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly, Justyne Caruana, said that  assistant technology now was helping elderly and disabled people live a healthier and more independent life.

The government was committed to support new initiatives and would he supporting  - through awareness-raising – PictoVerb, a new computer application launched by Hungarian student Balazs Zsombori this morning.

PictoVerb is an application for tablets and smartphones that transforms universally recognisable symbols into audio sentences, helping people with speech impairments communicate.