BANGALORE: More than one lakh babies are born deaf every year in India. Two in every 1,000 children are born with profound deafness. However, experts believe that being deaf does not mean that the child cannot hear or learn to speak. Early intervention and cochlear implant treatment enables and helps the child to speak. It even helps in treating severe to profound hearing loss.Emphasising on the early intervention Dr Shankar Medikeri, consultant ENT surgeon, Medikeri’s super speciality ENT Centre which has completed 100 successful cochlear implants for children said, “Children learn to talk by hearing the language around them. Before the child says his first words, he would have been listening to conversation around him for about a year.” He further added that the longer a child goes without being able to hear sounds and words, the more difficult it is for them to learn the spoken language. “Early intervention helps in treating the patients in a better way,” he added.“Deafness can be detected within four hours of birth. Clinical studies have shown that if the children who are born with a severe hearing impairment receive a cochlear implant before the age of two, they are more likely to attend mainstream school than those who receive the cochlear implant later in life,” he added.Life for the eight-year-old Abhay has changed ever since he has undergone his cochlear implant surgery. “His hearing impairment was detected when he was one year old. Soon after the detection, he underwent cochlear implant surgery which proved to be boon for him. He can speak and hear properly now,” added Sujiv, Abay’s father.Cochlear implant is an implanted hearing device that can restore one of the human senses. Cochlear implants restore the sense of hearing to adults and children who are severe to profoundly deaf, giving them the gift of sound and the ability to communicate more easily.A Cochlear implant bypasses the damaged part of the inner ear and stimulates the hearing nerve directly making clearer understanding of sound and speech.Dr Shankar also maintained that in other parts of the world, the new born screening for deafness is a recommended practice. It ensures that the parents can take crucial steps in treating their children early. However, in India there is a lack of understanding and infrastructure and no proper guidance is given to the parents about the importance of early intervention.
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