THE Royal Guard has set the world record for the most hearing tests carried out in 12 hours.

A Guinness World Record was awarded to the Royal Guard after the tests were performed yesterday, as part of an event called ‘Hear the World.’

The record-setting event was staged under the patronage of National Security Adviser, Supreme Defence Council Secretary General and Royal Guard Commander Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

From 8am to 8pm, military personnel and members of the public received clinical auditory screening at the guard’s headquarters in Al Rawdha, near Riffa.

Organisers confirmed that a new record had been set and the GDN was still awaiting final confirmation of the actual number of tests achieved when it went to Press.

“More than 200 volunteers, including 34 hearing specialists and 10 doctors from 17 hospitals, made the event possible,” King Hamad University Hospital ear, nose, and throat resident Dr Ahmed Khaled said.

The top medic told the GDN that medical staff from various public, private and military hospitals, including Salmaniya Medical Complex and the BDF Hospital, volunteered to take part in the event.

Patients were screened using a special headset, or audiometre, which ENT specialists placed on their heads.

Different beeping and clicking sounds were played to the patients, and they were required to click a button if they heard any noise, no matter how soft.

Guinness World Records official adjudicator Kanzy El Defrawy attended the event to monitor the process, review the evidence and award the record.

“The most important thing to validating the record is ensuring that the testing hall has only one entrance and one exit,” the Dubai-based judge told the GDN.

“Before awarding the record, we have to check if the event adhered to all the guidelines, review logbooks, extract tests from software and speak with witnesses,” she added.

Although a similar record has been set before in India for the ‘most hearing tests carried out in eight hours’ at 1,285, yesterday’s record was a completely new one.

Guinness World Records judges came up with 1,927, based on research, as the number to beat.

“‘Hear the World’ is one of the most well-organised mass participation events I’ve been to as an adjudicator,” Ms El Defrawy told the GDN.

A BDF official who gave members of the media a tour around the testing hall and the record-setting event’s preparations said that the amount of participants exceeded expectations.

“We were expecting to give 250 tests an hour, but to our surprise the number averaged at 470,” he said.

He added that there were surveillance cameras placed throughout the registration, testing and check-out areas for judges to verify the integrity of the process.

zainab@gdnmedia.bh

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