The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Adopt measures to prevent hearing disabilities'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Adopt measures to prevent hearing disabilities'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, having a word with K.K. Ramalingam, chairman, organising committee, at the inauguration of a conference of the Indian Society of Otology in Chennai on Friday. — Photo: K.Pichumani

CHENNAI, NOV. 19. The Tamil Nadu Governor, S.S. Barnala, today urged ENT surgeons to formulate measures for early detection of hearing disabilities in newborn babies and bring in innovative techniques to treat those with hearing disabilities at an affordable cost.

Inaugurating the three-day 13th annual conference of the Indian Society of Otology, Mr. Barnala said environmental pollution affected people at large. Noise pollution, caused high pitch loud speakers, vehicle horns, machineries and factories, he said, affected the hearing of a person. "Deafness induced by noise was not curable. People should be adequately educated to adopt preventive measures and associations like the Indian Society of Otology should take this onerous responsibility," Mr. Barnala added.

"It is shocking to note that roughly 4 out of every 1000 children born in India show profound hearing loss.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 250 million people worldwide, nearly 4.2 per cent of world's population, have hearing impairments and nearly two- thirds of them are in developing countries," he said.

Indigenous implant

P.G. Viswanathan, president of the Indian Society of Otology, who presided, said the Society was in the process of developing an indigenous cochlear implant with the help of a team of scientists headed by the President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Dr. Viswanathan said human error could be catastrophic in the field of medicine and surgery and a systematic study of human error in Otology should help develop strategies for error prevention and safety.

Preventive Otology with special emphasis on early identification and management of deafness, especially in chidhood, was needed in the subcontinent, he said.

Dr. K.K. Ramalingam, chairman and T.K. Sethuraman, secretary, said delegates from India and abroad were participating.

Dr. Ramalingam gave an account of the activities of the Society since its inception in 1992.

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