English

Abstract

BACKGROUND State Initiative on Disabilities [SID] survey (2015) states that 2.32 % of Kerala population are affected with one or the other form of disabilities; the Sruthitharangam scheme of Kerala Government since 2012 provides free cochlear implant surgery and rehabilitation to children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss among children of 0 - 5 years age group. We wanted to measure the expectations of the parents and their perspectives before cochlear implant surgery which depends upon their understanding of the whole process of surgery and the rehabilitation after surgery and its final outcomes. METHODS 67 parents of pre-implant children were interviewed with an open-ended questionnaire to know their perspective of government aided pre-implant programme in the state of Kerala. Children were using Hearing aids of Behind the Ear (BTE) TBE 110 HT model supplied by the government, free of cost. Children were attending pre-implant Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) with hearing aids at Centre for Audiology and Speech Pathology [CASP] Govt. Medical College, Kozhikode, for a minimum of 3 months. All the data was analysed using mean and percentage calculations. RESULTS 67 pre-implant children used their hearing aids for a minimum of 3 - month period and the age range was between 12 months to 36 months. The mean age of children was 2.1 ± 0.43 years. 41 male and 26 female children, with a male to female ratio of 1.53: 1 were included in the study. Analysis of the questionnaire showed 8 benefits, 11 shortcomings, 5 expectations and 8 suggestions. CONCLUSIONS The parentally reported expectations, short comings, and outcomes of the use of hearing aids could be related to many factors like health care services provided by the government, and the after services of hearing aids involved. These findings help us to understand the parental perspectives of the success of cochlear implantation which can be useful during parental counselling sessions. Study is also useful to the implant centres to revise their practices accordingly and improve the information given to candidate families. KEYWORDS Hearing Impairment, Cochlear Implant, Pre-Implant Children and Hearing Aid