Listening, for a lifetime

From: The Hindu - Chennai,India - Nov 7, 2004

The expert in paediatric rehabilitation was in the city recently to attend a workshop. In a chat with J. Ajith Kumar.

Deafness is a silent and hidden disability. Deafness in childhood can have devastating effects. It often remains unnoticed for an unreasonably long time and children with congenital deafness are handicapped in many ways. Such children generally do not learn to speak.

The most obvious handicap is seen in the development of speech and language. Deafness also affects the development of the auditory nervous system and inflicts significant damage on the emotional, educational, vocational, economic and social life of persons affected.

"Cochlear implantation is a pathbreaking medical technology that is the only proven surgical option for the severely to profoundly hearing impaired who do not benefit from hearing aids. It is particularly effective in young children as young as one year of age," says Viktorija McDonnel, Paediatric Habilitation Coordinator, Asia Pacific Region, for Cochlear Limited Australia. She believes that early identification and early intervention are key to solving the problem of impairment in hearing.

Ms. Viktorija was in Thiruvananthapuram recently to conduct a workshop on "Listening for a Lifetime," for training speech therapists, teachers of the deaf, parents of the hearing impaired and audiologists. She gave them lessons on how to provide effective speech rehabilitation to hearing impaired children to enable them to speak with the help of Nucleus Cochlear Implants.

She is also the mother of a hearing impaired girl, Holly, who was the first child in Australia to receive a nucleus cochlear implant and that was in 1987.

"Holly never feels any handicap and is leading a normal life. It was cochlear implant that saved her after she lost all speech at the age of four, subsequent to being afflicted by meningitis. She is now doing a double degree course, in Economics and Law and also working for a leading legal firm in Sydney," her beaming mother says.

Working in several South Eastern countries for the past four years, but spending most of the time in India in the area of rehabilitation of the deaf, she believes there is hope for the deaf and dumb. However, she is greatly concerned over the fact that the deaf are generally ignored and sometimes even ridiculed.

Ms.Viktorija points out that in India it has been estimated that over 25,000 children are born deaf every year. Severe to profound hearing loss afflicts an estimated 12 million people of all ages in India. In spite of this there is a woeful lack of awareness of this problem.

If the loss of hearing can be identified at as young an age as possible, the affected child can be made to start the learning process also at an early stage which will be more beneficial in the long run. By taking advantage of the early learning years, from the age of zero to five, the child will be in a better position to learn to speak. "The hearing impaired children should be put in regular schools, of course with hearing aids fitted, to help them speak and communicate along with the others," Ms.Viktorija says. The involvement of the family and support by parents are also very crucial after the implant. "Early identification, therapy and technology can together create a whole new world of possibilities for deaf children. Once they start hearing, they can begin speaking. In the rehabilitation process, a child learns to listen and listening leads to speaking," observes Ms.Viktorija.

Photo: S. Mahinsha

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