In a move aimed at providing affordable medical devices, the Centre has launched an innovative device to screen hearing disabilities among newborns. The device named Sohum is a low-cost and unique device that uses brainstem auditory evoked response to check for hearing response in a newborn.
"As of now, this technology is prohibitively expensive and inaccessible to many. Start-up Sohum has made the technology appropriate for the resource constrained settings and aims to cater to nearly 26 million babies born every year in India," Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary said, adding that it's a valuable contribution to the Make in India campaign of the government.
This programme is being implemented jointly at AIIMS and IIT Delhi in collaboration with international partners, while Biotech Consortium India Limited has been tasked to manage techno-legal activities of the programme. The newborn hearing screening device has been developed by School of International Biodesign (SIB) start-up Sohum Innovation Labs.
"Given that out of total 8 lakh hearing impaired babies born annually across the globe, nearly 1 lakh are born in the country and if the disability gets detected soon after the birth, it can be cured," Renu Swarup, a senior official in Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said, adding that when it is discovered at 4+ years, it's too late to reverse the damage and this leads to a host of problems such as impaired communication skills and even possible mental illness.
"The device would prove to be a great help for poor people as it's very affordable and provides better screening results. The government is hoping that the device would help in curing hearing disabilities among newborns at earlier stage only," she said.