The organisation of comprehensive audiological services in the Cape Province

There is an urgent need for comprehensive audiological services in South Africa to deal adequately with the problems of clinical, industrial and social medicine. The organisation built up in and around the Tygerberg Hospital is described, and may serve as a possible blueprint for what could be done in the rest of the country. In particular, the important role of the medical profession in the habilitation of hearing-impaired children is described, as well as the influence this has on the education of these children.