On the eve of World Hearing Day, experts and doctors today pitched for universal neonatal hearing screening in India to ensure that any impairment in a child is detected early on in life.
Hearing impairment is one of the most prevalent congenital disabilities in India, with an estimated eight in 1000 infants born with moderate to profound hearing impairment.
The theme for this year's World Hearing Day is "Childhood hearing loss: act now, here is how!". It aims to draw attention to preventable causes of hearing loss, right health measures needed to prevent the same and importance of early identification and suitable, timely interventions.
Unlike developed countries which have implemented near universal newborn hearing screening programmes under which newborns are tested at birth, India lacks such a system, said Neevita Narayana, leading Audiologist and founder of Sphear Speech and Hearing Clinic.
"Consequently, hearing disability is discovered much later in a large number of children. Hearing impairment in children leads to substantial language and speech delay that causes cognitive and developmental challenges. This further leads to academic challenges and delays in learning.
"In the absence of a screening mechanism at birth, suspicion of hearing disorder by family members is still the main mode of detection of childhood hearing impairment, and this diagnosis often doesn't occur as late as two years of age," Narayana said.
According to experts, Children learn 90 per cent of their language in early childhood (0-3 yrs) incidentally. This is possible only when they are hearing well. A child absorbs a lot of information and cognitive ability in the first 2-3 years of life, this includes ability to speak, pick up languages and identify objects.
"Most parents in India determine that their child may be suffering from hearing disability much after birth when they experience lack of response to sounds in a child or inability to speak.
"To improve this, we need a system where all children are tested at birth in hospitals. A cohesive universal system will prevent delay in intervention," said Dr Ameet Kishore, Senior Consultant Surgeon, ENT at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Today, there are not only advanced diagnostic tools but also highly advanced solutions such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and auditory brain stem implants that can allow significant improvement in hearing ability of even completely deaf persons.
