 Cochlear implant surgery - Gift of hearing
This is the story of Katrina Mercy, a four-year-old girl child who was abandoned when she was nine months old as she was both deaf and dumb. She was left abandoned in Christian Mission Charitable Trust. Currently, she is being taken care of by a family. She is lucky as her guardians, who have two children of their own, have been able to find a sponsor for a cochlear implant surgery.
Cochlear implants are meant for children who are born deaf. It costs anywhere between Rs 5-9 lakh. The sponsor is from the UK and is aware of this technology and how effective it is and hence Katrina is lucky once again. This child also has a tonsils and heart problem (her heart is inverted). She was operated upon for tonsils on February 28, 2006. After one month, she will undergo cochlear implant surgery at KKR ENT Hospital & Research Institute, Asia’s leading ENT Hospital.
Katrina will require around six months to two years' time to become normal. When a child is born, the child cannot speak immediately. The child starts speaking only after one and half years' time. Similarly, this child will also have to undergo training for speech so that she becomes normal. For one year she will have to come to the hospital every day for training in hearing and speech and this would be totally free of cost thanks to a generous gesture from KKR ENT Hospital.
Dr. Ravi Ramalingam, managing director, KKR ENT Hospital & Research Institute, said, “Learning to hear, listen and to speak can be a long but exciting process. For someone who has been without sound for a significant period, or a child who has never heard, it takes some time for the brain to become accustomed to the linguistic stimulation provided through the cochlear implant. By creating a stimulating listening environment and interacting with the recipient in spoken language, parents help to develop and enhance his or her learning process. A young recipient’s success in learning how to listen and talk depends on effective partnership of the parent and the professional team.”
Cochlear implants are meant for children who are born deaf. A cochlear implant is a device that electronically stimulates the hearing nerve of the cochlea (inner ear) to enable people who have severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, or nerve deafness, to perceive sound. Nerve deafness occurs when the tiny hair cells that line the cochlea have been damaged. These damaged hair cells cannot send electrical impulses to the hearing nerve; hence, the brain does not receive complete sound information.
After surgery, the recipient has to enroll in therapy. Recipients need to have appropriate listening models and materials to help in the development of their listening skills. Therapists, teachers, family members and the recipient's audiologist are the key people to provide these tools.
Commenting on cochlear implants, Dr. Ravi Ramalingam said, “We did research in association with the World Health Organisation and we found that three out of every 1,000 newborn children today suffer from severe degree of impaired hearing which would eventually require cochlear implantation. We conducted a camp last year where we found 1,000 patients who had severe nerve deafness who required cochlear implantation. Cochlear implantation is a proven medical treatment for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss - the number of people is anywhere between one to three million in India. We have already done over 50 implants till date from 2001 onwards. The technology has helped thousands of people to listen, learn and talk since the first multi-channel cochlear implant surgery was performed in 1982. Cochlear implant systems are designed to last a lifetime.”
He further said, “Since the first surgery in India in 1994, more than 300 people have benefited from our cochlear implant systems. The cost of the implant should be seen as an investment towards quality of life enhancement rather than a medical expense. We are in touch with the Indian government to develop Indian cochlear implants which would be available cheaper from Rs 1 lakh or less onwards. With India experiencing an all-time technological upswing, I would like to encourage all Indians to focus on elevating their awareness towards technologies for improving both health and lifestyle patterns.”
Organisations like Save the Chilren, Rotary Clubs, Lions Club and large corporate houses should come forward and support these children and help them so that they can stand on their own feet without any support. Today, children whose parents are able to find sponsors are considered lucky. There are millions of children who have been abandoned as they are silent and handicapped, says Dr Ravi.
R Rangaraj
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