The Internet is filled with videos of young children making use of glasses, hearing aids and prosthetic limbs for the first time, essentially capturing moments we tend to take for granted, ultimately reminding us of the power of the human body. On that note, seeing it all happen in real time is truly spectacular.
When US-based Starkey Hearing Foundation came to Hyderabad on October 28 and 29, Sangareddy, Mahbubnagar, Khammam, Suryapet, Warangal, Rangareddy and Miryalguda to provide hearing aids for over 1,200 children, the magnanimous appreciation was unprecedented. In 2016, a million beneficiaries received hearing aids which broke a Guinness World Record.
Worth a listen
Finding beneficiaries started as early as April mainly through schools in the designated areas. Vinay Babu Gottipatti, Zonal Business Development Manager of Starkey Hearing Technologies India, shares in the first week of September, numbers of beneficiaries were confirmed immediately followed by teams travelling to the locations to clean and treat any infections and to prepare moulds for the devices which are created in Chennai and Bengaluru — a truly thorough process. Various types of hearing aids were given to those with different degrees of impairment, making for a thoughtful and well-researched experience.
Other locations for the drives include Nasik, Kolkata and Baramati, where each city has 1,200 beneficiaries confirmed. Vinay is grateful for the experience, commenting, “The work is physically strenuous but when we see the happiness of the children, it’s all worth it. We have also set up a playtime area where we will be checking responses and feedback through fun games.”
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 29/10/2017: Around 1,200 deaf children from Hyderabad, Sangareddy, Mahbubnagar, Khammam, Suryapet, Warangal, Rangareddy and Miryalguda were given hearing aids free of cost on Oct 28 and 29 in the city by Starkey Foundation, USA. Several children, who have never heard before, reacted gleefully after the hearing equipment were fixed. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
Hearing aid technology can vary from the basic to the quite advanced. Basic hearing aids make use of channels, directional microphone systems, digital noise reduction, impulse noise reduction, feedback management systems, a telecoil and FM compatibility. Advanced systems are an upgrade featuring Bluetooth compatibility, wind noise reduction, data logging, learning features and binaural processing.
William Austin, who founded Starkey in 1967, and his wife Tani Austin will be present at every camp. For them, each city visit will be a renewed experience — despite the varying languages, the universal lighting up of every beneficiary’s face conveys volumes. In fact William has been named the first Goodwill Global Ambassador for Ear and Hearing Health by the United Nations this year.
Aftercare
- Each hearing aid costs ₹22,000 to ₹27,000, amounting to over ₹2.5 crores for each city
- 24 doctors from the US participated in the two-day camp
Vinay explains that once hearing aids are received, the maintenance is life-long, adding repairs and extra batteries are provided every six months for free. He adds that a new phase to the programme has been added, “In Pune, we have adopted a school with speech language classes which have been successfully effective.”
