The hearScreen innovation – developed by the University of Pretoria (UP) - is still making waves and has garnered in more awards in the past few weeks.

hearScreen ^TM turns an ordinary smartphone into an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution for screening children and adults for hearing loss.

Prof De Wet Swanepoel from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the lead inventor of the application, received good news last week when the application walked away with the honours at the second My World of Tomorrow South African Innovation Awards in the category Community Innovation. This competition was presented by Business Connexion in partnership with Business Day.

“We're honoured to receive this prestigious award and believe it underscores hearScreen’s potential as a community innovation. Our goal is to revolutionise access to healthy hearing for all and the recognition of the SA Innovation Award brings us one step closer to making this a reality,” Prof Swanepoel said after hearing of this latest achievement.

The hearScreen application is also one of five finalists in the Innovation Fellows Competition, sponsored by Philips Africa in partnership with the Innovation Hub. The overall winner will be announced in November and will receive R200 000 as a research and development budget for their “next big idea”.

The hearScreen application was also awarded the Innovation Summit award for social innovation in early childhood development in September.

In addition to the above, Prof Swanepoel also recently received the news that he has been honoured by the Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3) for his academic work and research. He has been awarded the S2A3 British Association Medal (Silver), which will be handed to him during an official ceremony.

The British Association Medal is awarded to a person under the age of 40 years who is actively engaged in scientific research and who demonstrated evidence in publications, discoveries and/or skills of outstanding capability and achievement, especially when measured by international standards. The medal enjoys the status of one of the highest awards for original scientific research in South Africa.