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improving lives Sensory aids bring the joy of sound to those with hearing impairments
D
■■ By Dr Tadros eafness is a common disease that affects most of us temporarily and up to 7 per cent of the population permanently. There are two types of deafness. First type is conductive, which is a result of sound waves not reaching the inner ear. We experience this when our ears are blocked by wax or suffer from a cold. By the age of three, 50-70 per cent of children have suffered from an infection in the middle ear and 6 per cent of these are prone to repeated attacks. Crowded day care centres and passive smoking contribute to these problems, resulting in ear perforations and discontinuity of sound transmission through the middle ear bones. Conductive loss untreated by surgery and/ or medicines can be helped with hearing aids or a middle ear implant, a device that transmits sound through the bones of the skull, bypassing the damaged middle ear. Second type of deafness is sensorineural that affects hearing receptors in the inner ear or the nerve network that feed the brain.
MED-EL Medical Electronics
State-of-the-art enhancements It is estimated that two in a 1,000 people are born with hearing loss. Around 50 per cent are hereditary (consanguinity in the Middle East increases the incidence), while 25 per cent are due to identifiable and environmental acquired causes during the mother’s pregnancy or in early childhood. Examples include Cytomegalovirus infection (CMV), toxoplasmosis, and exposure to some medicines during pregnancy. Meningitis is also a major factor in early childhood. Hearing aids are the best answer for a majority of cases and should be provided as a first line of treatment. In severe to profound deafness where hearing aids provide no benefit, cochlear implants are the answer. Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices that give the deaf a sense of sound. Developed in France in 1953-1957 by
Andre Djouno and pioneered by Dr House, it was James Doyle that advanced and popularised the technology. Candidates for cochlear implants include children who were born deaf and the optimum age of implantation is below the age of two. Children who have suffered profound deafness after meningitis need urgent implantation due to total obliteration of the inner ear by bone growth. Adults who have suffered severe sensorinural loss later in life after developing speech are excellent candidates and achieve impressive results. Hearing is one of our main senses and the only sense that can be stimulated electronically. We are all fortunate that medical advancements in hearing aid technology have led to a significant improvement in the lives of people suffering from this condition
MED-EL Medical Electronics introduces latest technology to curb hearing issues MED-EL, headquartered in Innsbruck, is a leading provider of hearing implant systems. The family-owned business, which was founded by Dr Ingeborg and Prof. Dr Erwin Hochmair, is one of the pioneers of the industry, as well as the inventor of the cochlear implant in the form it is known today. MED-EL’s adamant mission is to assist patients to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication, and to enable hearing-impaired people to hear like
a normal person. With its latest advances, it has come very close to this, however, there is still a noticeable lack of awareness among the wider community. In the UAE, as per its research findings released earlier this year, at least 4 per cent of the country’s population is affected by some degree of hearing loss. Furthermore, 62 per cent of babies born in the country were not screened for hearing issues at birth. Unfortunately, the few babies that have undergone and failed hearing screenings have not yet been fitted with hearing implants. MED-EL Medical Electronics’ message to everyone is: “Don’t let hearing loss change your or your loved ones’ lives; it no longer has to.”
Explore the world of sound with hearing implant solutions from MED-EL
Our innovative solutions developed using our experience, spirit and the latest technologies, make us your trusted partner for an enhanced quality of life and better hearing. Lifelong. For more information, visit us at
medel.com
Abu Dhabi: 02 6340670 | Dubai: 04 3433950 | Sharjah: 06 5447332
Widex@emirates.net.ae