Identifying hearing impairment in a child within six months of birth and starting treatment immediately can lead to complete recovery, a doctor said at an awareness meet on hearing problems on Sunday.
However, the awareness on hearing impairment is low and people tend to neglect it, resulting in hearing loss or reduced hearing, said NVK Mohan, senior consultant otologist at the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI).
He said parents were the best judges to identify hearing problems in their child. If a child did not turn to a parent’s call or to a noise within six months, the parents should see a doctor.
“If the problem is identified and the treatment is started within six months of birth, the child can have a normal hearing,” said Mohan, also a ENT and cochlear implant surgeon.
He was a speaker at the awareness programme.
A simple test conducted at birth will be able to identify if a child was born with congenital hearing impairment, he told The Telegraph on Tuesday.
“This is a painless test and costs about Rs 600 or Rs 700 in corporate hospitals. It is free in government institutions.”
Arunabha Sengupta, a professor at the ENT department of SSKM Hospital, said if the treatment for congenital hearing impairment did not start within five years, the child will not be able to speak.
“The speech depends on her hearing. If a child does not hear within 5 years, there will be a problem with her speech development,” he said. Sengupta was not there at the awareness meet.
He said as many parents are unaware about hearing impairment they bring their children quite late.
