Hearing device made affordable
23/2/2005 15:00
Cai Wenjun/Shanghai Daily news
A medical appliance
company has received permission to produce cochlea developed by a local
hospital, which will potentially help millions of the country's deaf
population. A cochlea is a "spiral-shaped cavity of the inner ear that
resembles a snail shell and contains nerve endings essential for hearing."
Previously, the manmade cavities have only been available as expensive imports
at costs unaffordable for the majority of the country's 27 million deaf
population. However, Shanghai Lishengte Medical Technology Company yesterday
received approval from Fudan University's Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital,
which developed the technology domestically, to produce them in China. Though
it still should take one to two years for the company to receive a license from
the National Food and Drug Administration and launch mass production, the
Chinese models are expected to cost 50,000 yuan (US$6,024). An imported cochlea
costs about 200,000 yuan. "With the huge cost of imported cochlea, less than
1,000 Chinese have been implanted with the device in the past 10 years. It
seriously hampers deaf people's living quality and makes children miss their
best time to learn a language," said hospital president Gao Jiechun. In
Shanghai, there are 220,000 deaf people.
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