World Hearing Day 2022: Cochlear implant is costly, availability is limited and patients many, says expert
Cochlear implant is a surgical procedure that helps congenitally deaf children to hear after a few months of speech therapy.
- According to World Health Organization there are approximately 63 million Indians who are suffering from Significant Auditory Impairment.
- Cochlear implant is mainly used for congenital deaf children; in adults it is used when they have profound hearing loss due to an injury or disease.
- The implant has to be inserted surgically. After the surgery, patients need to undergo speech therapy for a few months.
Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit in human beings today. As per World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in India, there are approximately 63 million people, who are suffering from Significant Auditory Impairment. In other words, the estimated prevalence of hearing loss stands at 6.3 per cent in Indian population. As per National Sample Survey Office survey, at present, there are 291 persons per one lakh population who are suffering from severe to profound hearing loss. Of these, a large percentage is children between the ages of 0 to 14 years. With such a large number of hearing impaired young Indians, it amounts to a severe loss of productivity, both physical and economic. An even larger percentage of our population suffers from milder degrees of hearing loss and unilateral (one sided) hearing loss.