Speech and hearing are birthrights for every child, enabling them to communicate and connect with the world. Unfortunately, some children ar...
Speech and hearing are birthrights for every child, enabling them to communicate and connect with the world. Unfortunately, some children are born with impaired hearing known as "Prelingual Deaf," while others experience hearing loss after acquiring speech, referred to as "Postlingual deafness." Early detection of deafness plays a crucial role in successfully addressing the challenges faced by such children. Recognizing this, CritiCare Asia hospitals and Dr. Sanjay Helale have launched a Cochlear Implant Program, aiming to provide a long-term hearing solution for individuals with moderate to profound hearing loss.
Unlike traditional hearing aids that simply amplify sound, cochlear implants offer effective and long-lasting solutions for people with moderate to profound hearing loss. By directly stimulating the cochlea hearing nerve and bypassing damaged areas of the hearing pathway, cochlear implants restore the ability to perceive sound.
This Cochlear
Implant Program has come at a crucial time, as more than a half a million
people worldwide have already experienced the life-changing benefits of
cochlear implants. In India alone, where approximately one in every 1,000
babies is born profoundly deaf, the number of fully deaf children is alarmingly
high, considering the country's high birth rate. This Cochlear Implant Program
aims to identify hearing loss in newborns and infants providing timely
interventions to ensure successful habilitation.
Unfortunately due to lack of awareness and high cost of surgeries many children are deprived of the boon in our country. Sonu Nigam, an icon known for his philanthropic endeavors, has lent his unwavering support and commitment to this cause. "Every living being on this earth has the right to hear and speak," he emphasizes. "My best wishes to CritiCare Asia Group of Hospitals Dr. Deepak Namjoshi, Dr. Masuuma Namjoshi and the team”. Together we aim to create awareness so that every deaf child is given an opportunity to lead a normal life with our Sound of success Program.
As per Dr. Deepak Namjoshi, Dr. Masuuma Namjoshi and Dr. Sanjay Helale, “Early detection of hearing loss in newborns and infants is important, as a child's brain centers for hearing require stimulation from an early age to develop completely. Delayed implantation can hinder the child's understanding of sounds and their associations. Therefore, early detection, cochlear implantation, and rehabilitation form the key pillars in integrating deaf children into the mainstream enabling them to participate in activities alongside other children.”
By providing early implantation before the age of three, this program contributes to a child’s speech development and language acquisition skills. The brain's early development and maturation during the first three years of life present the most appropriate time for speech and language skills to flourish. The Cochlear Implant mimics the normal function of the inner ear or cochlea, bypassing damaged areas in the hearing pathway to directly stimulate the cochlea hearing nerve. The process involves a sound processor that converts sound into digital information using microphones. This information is then received by an implant placed just under the skin, which sends a digital sound signal to the cochlea through an electrode. The hearing nerve fibers in the cochlea pick up these signals and transmit them to the brain, allowing for the interpretation of the signals as sound.
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