Bangalore-Based Inventor Develops Low-Cost Device To Test Hearing Ability Of New-Borns

When a baby is born in India, parents usually don’t do infant hearing screen test. There are multiple reasons for it; either the parents are oblivious to such auditory tests, or because the hospitals don’t conduct it, or because the test is too expensive. Usually, the test is conducted a few years after the birth, if the child shows anomalous hearing behavior. According to a study, it is found out that in India only 38% of the medical institutes perform the new-born hearing screening. In order to make the auditory test available and affordable for Indian parents and medical institutes, Bangalore-based inventor, Neeti Kailas, has designed an inexpensive, battery operated, portable device with a belief that the early detection of hearing impairment will be helpful to treat it at early stages.


At present, there are two predominant systems of screening in India. The first one is called Otoacoustic emission (OEA) which is used to detect any blockage in the canal of an outer ear and any damage to outer hair cells in the cochlea. It is conducted by placing a microphone in the infant’s ear, then the sounds are played and an echo from the ear is measured. Second system is Auditory brainstem response (ABR) also known as Auditory evoked potential (AEP) uses disposable electrodes. The test is conducted by placing electrodes on the head and recording brain’s activity in response to the sound. The former is sensitive to outside sounds and does not perform efficiently in India as the environment is generally noisy and the latter costs about INR 5-8 lakhs.

The novel device similar to ABR technology is still in a prototype phase and will most probably be available in the markets in 2017. It is estimated that the new system will be sold at about one-fifth of the price of the ABR equipment. The algorithm for the device is written in such a way that it can work on sleeping babies and there is no need to sedate them. While using the device, the presence of skilled technicians is not required.

Neeti Kailas also planning to conduct hearing screening awareness programs since lack of awareness is another issue along with the cost of the test. The team is also in talks with doctors and experts to understand their concerns.

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