Technological advances have brought benefits to the quality of life of people with deafness . O CNN Vital Signs this week shows the journey of patients in the search for hearing. The program, presented by cardiologist Roberto Kalil, will air this Sunday (10), at 7:30 pm, reinforcing the diversified content with the brand CNN Soft .
In Brazil, patients have free access to care for deafness from a conventional device to complex operations such as stapedectomy, surgery indicated to recover the hearing of patients with otosclerosis, to the so-called “cochlear implant”.
In the episode, the head of the Department of Otology and the cochlear implant group at Hospital CEMA, Andy de Oliveira Vicente, details the process of performing a stapedectomy.
“I tell the patients everything. It is important for the patient to know. There is the option of surgery, where we are a reference, but there is the possibility of doing a test on the device. Most patients here don’t care about braces already,” she says.
In an interview with Roberto Kalil, doctor Ricardo Bento, professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP), discusses advances in the treatment of deafness (see interview in the video above ).
“Our legislation is very advanced in terms of the hearing health ordinance. Today, the patient has access through the SUS to undergo from a simple treatment with a free conventional hearing aid to a sophisticated cochlear implant”, says Bento.
The implant, which directly stimulates the auditory nerve through small electrodes, became known with the success of the award-winning film “The Sound of Silence”, which tells the story of a musician who loses his hearing. The work also illustrates the difference in access to cochlear implants in the United States and Brazil.
The coordinator of the speech therapy team at Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo, Valeria Goffi, explains that cochlear implants are not just surgery.
“Everyone needs to understand that it is a process. First, he will hear a mixed sound, then we will program […] So, there has to be a commitment from the family to the team, to new schedules and individual adjustments”, he points out.
Different levels of deafness
The main causes of deafness are diseases such as viruses and meningitis, use of medications and drugs, exposure to intense noise, as well as head trauma or tumors.
Other factors include cases of deafness in the family, premature birth or low birth weight, antibiotic use, as well as congenital infections such as syphilis, toxoplasmosis and rubella.
In Brazil, deaf people constitute 3.2% of the population or approximately 5.8 million Brazilians, according to the Ministry of Health. To communicate, the deaf use an adaptation to linguistics, Libras – Brazilian Sign Language, which was recognized as a legal means of communication and expression, through Law nº 10.436/2002.
In the episode, experts warn about the risks of hearing damage by using headphones with a volume above the recommended. Specialist doctors explain what these limits are and how to use the devices safely.
Source: CNN Brasil
