Everything you need to know about Cochlear Implantation:

By: Padmashree awardee Prof. (Dr) J. M. Hans of Rainbow Children’s Hospital

Hearing impairment and genetics

Almost 60% of hearing loss in childrenis genetically transmitted andresearchers are identifying more number of genes that are responsible for the same. About 20% to 30% of hearing loss in children is due to infections that occur in women during their pregnancy. Childbirth complications and intake of certain medicines can also result in hearing loss in childrenowing to mutation in their genes.

Other hearing disorders are conductive and sensorineural and are caused by factors like aging, loud noise, medications and certain illnesses.

• What is Cochlear implantation?

A cochlear implant is a surgically inserted electronic device that helps to replace the function of a healthy inner ear. They actually function as an inner ear, as opposed to simply making sounds louder. The inner ear is the part of the ear that controls how you hear. When the hair follicles (cochlea) are damaged in the inner ear, you, in turn, will have hearing loss. Sometimes, the inner ear is so damaged that the loss is much more profound than a person who can benefit from hearing aids.

• Care that has to be done post a Cochlear implant

1. People with cochlear implants, should be very careful whileplaying sports. It is advisable to get on the field with helmets in order to avoid any head injury as they are at a greater risk of damaging the internal device.

2. Children with cochlear implants aremore likely to getMeningitis, a viral or bacterial infection of the meninges and cerebral spinal fluid. They are recommended to take vaccinations to protect against pneumococcal meningitis before and after cochlear implantation

3. Before getting a medical X-Ray and CT scan done,the speech processor needs to be removed

4. Hand your equipment to the security attendantto personally inspect while walking through a metal-detectorasexposing the cochlear implantto static electricity can potentially damage your speech processor’s microphone

• Cochlear implant statistics

• Nearly 188,000 individuals worldwide are fitted with a cochlear implant.In India about 25,000 people have cochlear implants. Among these, 18% percent are adults and 82% percent are children

• In India we have about 30 to 40 lakh people suffering from profound sensorineural hearing loss who would need a cochlear implant. 25,000 – 30,000 people are born with profound deafness who would need a cochlear implant every year

• 10% of the total population of the country suffer some amount of hearing loss whether it is mild, moderate, severe or profound. 1% from this are hearing handicapped. Hearing handicapped means the better ear has more than 60dB hearing loss. 0.1% has profound sensorineural hearing loss which would requires a cochlear implant surgery.

• Four in every 1000 children suffer from severe to profound hearing loss. However only two are opting for a cochlear implantations owing to various reasons.Early detection and early implantation provide best results

• The best results were found among children who received the cochlear implant at 1-3 years of age as they achieve 90 to 95 percent hearing and language improvement. 80-90 percent of these children develop a hearing and speech equal to those of children with normal hearing

Corporate Comm India(CCI NewsWire)