Kerala - Kochi   

Ushering them into the world of sound

KOCHI: Three-year old Fida Fathima, who has only a day ago entered into the world of sound, now has a happy countenance. For Nasarulla and Farida, her parents, this is a beginning. She was a difficult child till two days ago. The first sounds have made her find peace with herself, perhaps.

She is already getting used to the new sense she has been given with a cochlear implant and enjoys music, showing her displeasure if it is switched off. Cochlea is a small curved tube inside the ear, which contains a small part that sends nerve signals to the brain when sounds cause it to vibrate.

Damage to the nerve cells of the inner ear is the main reason for deafness. These damaged neurons will not be excited by the sounds of the external world as it is not converted into electrical energy. Hence the sounds do not reach the brain. The cochlear implants help reach the external signals to the inner ear that help the hearing impaired to hear the sounds. Early intervention helps screen deafness, said Dr. Naushad. Implants have been done in 2-year old and even smaller infants.

The surgery on Fathima was done on October 8 and the implant was switched on only on Monday, said Dr. Mohammed Naushad, who led the surgery with his team of audiologists. A rehabilitation team with a speech therapist has to work with the child continuously for some time to get her to learn the words and identify various sounds and language.

So far there have been only 2,400 cochlear implants in the country of about three crore hearing impaired people.

Every year about 25,000 children are born deaf. Of this only one-tenth of the children go to school, said Dr. Naushad.

Infections and problems occurring in the external and middle ear causing hearing problems can be corrected with surgeries and other procedures, but the total loss of hearing because of some disorder in the inner ear is difficult to correct, Dr. Naushad said. The implants, which are imported, are extremely expensive starting with Rs.5.5 lakh for the lowest in the range, which goes up to Rs.9.5 lakh.

A programme for getting such cochlear implants here was initiated during the period when Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the President of the country. However, the programme has done little progress after Dr. Kalam’s term ended.

Dr. Naushad’s ENT Hospital and Research Centre will be conducting free screening for hearing in new born babies.

He said that cochlear implant surgeries are recommended only after a series of tests. “We do not recommend surgery for all who are deaf.” The high cost of implants is the greatest deterrent in the surgeries.

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