Three month old deaf baby hears after cochlear implant surgery

A three-month-old deaf baby from West Bengal is now able to hear sounds thanks to a cochlear implant surgery performed at the centrally administered JIPMER. 

Sheikh Mohamed from West Bengal had the two hour surgery performed on him today and it was done free of cost, Dr Sunil Saxena, Head of Ear, Nose and Throat Department said. JIPMER, a government hospital, is the first hospital to perform the surgery here, he said in a release.

A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that provides a sense of sound to the person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Dr Saxena said that after implant is put in place, sounds would be picked up by a microphone and sent through a speech processor to the implant's electrodes inside the cochlear (inside ear) to provide sound signals to the brain.

After surgery the patient would be able to hear and speak. The best response is obtained at two to five years of age, he said, adding that the patient would later be subjected to rigorous speech therapy.