Hearing-impaired children struggle to be heard

22.05.2019
When it comes to helping deaf children live with their condition, devices such as cochlear implants are only the first step. According to experts, helping children with hearing impairment learn to live with their conditions and the effect of these implements is just as important.

Exact figures as to the number of people living with hearing impairment in India vary. The Joshua Project estimates that more than ten million Indians are deaf. The National Association of the Deaf, meanwhile, posits the number of deaf India to be eighteen million. A 2016 study estimated that 63 million Indians experience significant auditory loss. It goes on to state that more than 100,000 Indians are born with hearing deficiency every year. Four out of every thousand Indian children live with severe to profound. The 2011 Census estimated 1.3 million Indians to be living with hearing impairment – a significantly lower figure than other estimates, accounted for in part by outdated statistics but arguably also indicative of the chronic underreporting of a number of conditions. This applies not only to disabilities but also to chronic diseases and infectious conditions such as swine flu and malaria.

A school for the deaf in Baghdad, Iraq. There are just 388 schools 

for the deaf in India

“There are just 388 schools for the deaf in India and the absence of sign language interpreters in many classrooms highlights how much of a struggle schooling can be for deaf children. Consequently…99 percent of hearing-impaired people are either uneducated or drop out”

Many challenges stand in the way of India’s hearing-impaired individuals fulfilling their potential. India’s hearing-impaired population faces much by way of social stigma and discrimination. This is a challenge also encountered by those living with a plethora of other conditions, such as mental health disorders and infectious diseases such as leprosy. This highlights the extent to which prejudice can act as a barrier to many Indians accessing support for their health. Meanwhile, the lack of facilities for the hearing-impaired in India makes everyday life difficult, from lack of signage in public spaces to challenges in school and the workplace.

Taking education as an example, there are just 388 schools for the deaf in India and the absence of sign language interpreters in many classrooms highlights how much of a struggle schooling can be for deaf children. Consequently, as YourStory reported in 2016 that “99 percent of hearing-impaired people are either uneducated or drop out after Class VI or VII, because they are not able to cope.”

Diagram of a cochlear implant. Image credit: BruceBlaus
[CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

“Cochlear implants can be a useful tool in allowing the hearing-impaired to embrace a new lease of life. In Tamil Nadu, more than four thousand hearing-impaired children – including those below the poverty line – have been fitted with the devices in a state where hearing impairment takes a significant toll.”

Cochlear implants are one way of offering hope to India’s hearing-impaired children. They are electronic devices that can be useful to those for whom hearing aids are ineffective. Installing a cochlear implant involves surgically implanting a receiver into the mastoid bone, which is located behind the ear. Electrodes are connected to the cochlea (or the inner ear). A microphone and speech processor then converts sound into electrical signals which are sent to the inner ear and transmitted to the brain, where the signals are converted into sound.

Cochlear implants can be a useful tool in allowing the hearing-impaired to embrace a new lease of life. In Tamil Nadu, more than four thousand hearing-impaired children – including those below the poverty line – have been fitted with the devices in a state where hearing impairment takes a significant toll. Six out of every thousand children are born deaf in the state.

“Stigmatisation and marginalisation of those with disabilities such as hearing impairment may make them seem to be invisible, but the fact is that they are not and to ignore an entire population is unconscionable.”

The potential of the cochlear implant to help the hearing-impaired cannot be understated, but experts are keen to note that the device is only a first step. Rehabilitation programmes to ensure that recipients can adjust to and cope with their newfound condition are essential to their development.

“When a three-year-old gets a device, his hearing is restored. But his hearing is like that of a newborn,” says otorhinolaryngologist Dr Mohan Kameswaran, who founded the Madras ENT Research Foundation and the MERF Institute of Speech and Hearing. “But his hearing age is like that of a newborn. He will take at least a year to learn and comprehend language before he starts to speak. So, when younger children get the implant the results are always better. But for this, the child needs to attend rehabilitation programmes at least twice a week.”

Encouraging these follow-up programmes are just as important for hearing-impaired children to be able to live a life with dignity in which they can realise the full extent of their potential. This is true not only of Tamil Nadu but also of India as a whole. Stigmatisation and marginalisation of those with disabilities such as hearing impairment may make them seem to be invisible, but the fact is that they are not and to ignore an entire population is unconscionable. Maximising their potential and value to Indian society is a must going forward if India is to be a society truly functional and conducive to the benefit of all its people.