In celebration of Children's Day tomorrow, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Children's Medical Fund (CMF) and the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) are pleased to announce its first clinical partnership in the setting up of a Hearing and Cochlear Implant Centre for children suffering from hearing impairment.

To be situated in SGH, the NKF CMF-SGH Centre for Hearing and Cochlear Implants will address the needs of children suffering from any degree of hearing loss. The Centre will harness state-of-the-art technology and techniques to diagnose and medically treat these children. The Centre's holistic approach will also look at the social and emotional needs of the child by providing services such as rehabilitation, psychological therapy, counselling for both the child and family, and early detection of hearing loss through screening programmes.  This Centre is the first of its kind in the region, meeting the 'total' needs of patients suffering from hearing disorders

"We have an established track record in treating deafness both in children and adults.  It is estimated that there are about 4,500 children and 400,000 adults suffering from hearing impairment in Singapore.  SGH is currently the MOH-designated referral hospital for rehabilitation of children with hearing impairment. The co-ordinating office for the National Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme is also located at SGH.  It is therefore natural for us to continue to leverage on our existing clinical capabilities and capacities to partner NKF CMF in this initiative.  The concentration of both specialist manpower and infrastructure will minimise the duplication of resources", said A/Prof Low Wong Kein, Director, Listen & Talk Programme and Head, Department of Otolaryngology, SGH who will head the Centre.

This centre of excellence is set up and funded by the CMF with the money raised from the recent CMF Charity Show in July. Beyond just providing holistic treatment for the children in need, the Centre will also focus on education and training of professionals, promote research in hearing disorders, as well as work with other hearing centres around the world.

Said Dr Gerard Chuah, Chairman of the CMF, "We are very encouraged by the establishment of this Centre, which is a testament of the value that the CMF can bring to paediatric medicine. It also goes to show our commitment to help children suffering from lifelong medical conditions. We assure the public that we will continue in our efforts to reach out to any child in need."

Patient's Profile

Aw Fang Yu  
Fang Yu is ten years old and she is currently attending Primary 4 in a mainstream school. Fang Yu has a Moderate to Severe hearing loss and she started Auditory-Verbal Therapy sessions at the Singapore General Hospital's Listen & Talk Programme since June 2001.  She wears a pair of hearing aids and with the FM system, Fang Yu is coping well in school.  She is involved in activities such as "I Club" which relates to information technology. She is also interested in music and has taken up piano lessons recently. 

Tracy Goh
Tracy is seven years old and she is currently attending mainstream primary school and coping very well.  She was diagnosed at 10 months old with Profound hearing loss but there was no improvement until she received a cochlear implant much later.  Tracy has been attending mainstream school with normal hearing children right from the beginning and she has developed age-appropriate language with her hearing peers in her language and vocabulary. Tracy is also involved in musical performances, and she communicates competently on the telephone. She also teaches and educates her classmates actively about her cochlear implant and she is currently taking leadership roles in her class.

Background Information

Each year, approximately 1 in 1,000 babies in Singapore are born with profound hearing loss and a further 5 in 1,000 are born with some form of hearing loss, making childhood hearing loss the most common congenital disability. It is estimated that there are at least 4,500 children (aged 19 years and below) and 400,000 adults currently suffering from permanent hearing loss in Singapore.

Among the major disabilities, deafness is the one disability where modern medical intervention can arguably make the biggest difference to the life of a person affected.  With early detection, use of technologically advanced hearing devices including cochlear implants, effective rehabilitation and adequate support; at least 90% of children born with significant deafness today can cope well in mainstream education, successfully integrate into mainstream society and live a normal life.

SGH has an established medical track record in treating deafness in Singapore. Cochlear Implantation was first introduced in Singapore at SGH in 1989.  Since then, about 250 adults and children have received cochlear implants.  Of these, about 80% of them underwent implantation at SGH.  

Implemented in 1998, the SGH Newborn Hearing Screening Programme provides screening for hearing loss in all infants at birth for the purpose of early detection and diagnosis of deafness in children, so that appropriate intervention can be instituted early. 

SGH Listen and Talk Programme, a national habilitation programme set up in July 2001 to train children with hearing impairment to use their hearing provided by a hearing aid or a cochlear implant for understanding speech and learn to talk through play and day-to-day activities.  It is also the co-ordinating centre for universal newborn hearing screening and cochlear implant programmes in Singapore.

National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Children's Medical Fund (CMF) - SGH Centre for Hearing and Cochlear Implants

The NKF CMF - SGH Centre for Hearing and Cochlear Implants would be a one-stop centre that meets the comprehensive medical, social and emotional needs of a child suffering any degree of hearing loss.  Its holistic approach, not only addresses the child's medical needs, but also incorporates the child's family, simulates real-life environments, and tackles psychosocial issues.  The Centre is set to be the first of its kind in the region.

Specifically, its services would include the following:

(a) Diagnose and medically treat children with hearing loss, using state-of-the-art technology and techniques
(b) Rehabilitate children in environments where the day-to-day activities of a child can be realistically simulated
(c) Minimise the psychological trauma that a child will experience during hospitalisation or surgery, by introducing "pre-surgery conditioning therapy"
(d) Provide emotional and psychological support for both the children and their families. This includes organising and facilitating self-help and parent support groups
(e) Using the concept of "reverse education therapy" to effectively educate a deaf child's family members, friends, peers, teachers and health care workers on deafness (f) Promote early detection of childhood hearing loss and support hearing screening programmes
(g) Assess and treat children with auditory processing dysfunction.

In addition to patient care, this Centre would also be focusing on:
(h) Educating and training of professionals
(i) Promoting research in the field of hearing disorders
(j) Exploring and establishing collaboration with other hearing centres/bodies in the world

Conclusion
An estimate of at least 5,000 children with hearing disorders in Singapore will benefit from the establishment of the centre. In addition, the Centre will also train professionals from countries in the region, equipping them with the skills to help children with hearing disorders in their home country. All in all, thousands more will set to benefit from the establishment of the NKF CMF - SGH Centre for Hearing and Cochlear Implants, extending its impact far beyond Singapore's shore.