From Pretoria to the world: How hearX’s De Wet Swanepoel took hearing care global

With one in five people in the world suffering from hearing loss, hearing care remains one of the least accessible areas of healthcare globally. A South African innovation led by University of Pretoria professor De Wet Swanepoel has helped to change that reality, using smartphones to take hearing screening, diagnostics and even treatment out of clinics and into communities. In an interview with BizNews, Prof Swanepoel explains how hearX, a company he founded and which was spun out of the university, developed digital tools for screening, clinical testing and selftest solutions that caught the attention of the World Health Organization. Prof Swanepoel highlights how hearX developed a probe to enable hearing screening for newborns, and how the company is addressing the exorbitant cost of hearing aids, which are now available over the counter in the United States. He says other countries, including South Africa, are watching this space closely. hearX has also launched a free AIenabled WhatsApp training programme for teachers, which he says is delivering measurable improvements in awareness and knowledge of hearing loss. – Linda van Tilburg