The number of hearing impaired has now reached 20.57 million in China.

　　There are approximately 800,000 deaf children under the age of seven and the number has risen by 30,000 annually in recent years due to genetic inheritance, abuse of medicine and accidents.

　　These astonishing figures indicate the growing number of hearing impaired people in China.

　　And there are hundreds of thousands of people suffering hearing problems globally.

　　And how to help the children cope with and overcome their hearing problems is a long-standing conundrum that puzzles experts, parents and society.

　　Governments at various levels and non-government organizations have made great efforts to support the hearing impaired.

　　During the first five years (2001-05) of the implementation of the National Programme of Action for Child Development in China (2001-10), a total of 94,521 deaf children across the country had received rehabilitation training and proper treatment; about 27.1 per cent of children with hearing problems had access to normal kindergarten and primary school education after rehabilitation training; 105,716 needy deaf children nationwide wore hearing aids for free; professionals engaged in deaf recovery had grown to 6,000, with 14,357 people receiving related training and 1,700 hearing rehabilitation organizations across the country having been set up.

Brand new world for kids

By Jia Jingqi

　　A brand new world with euphonious sound has opened up to a 7-year-old girl during the past few months.

　　Lin Cailing, living in the rural area of East China’s FujianProvince, has suffered from congenital deafness from birth, and has thus been trapped in a soundless world for seven years due to the ineffectiveness of traditional hearing treatments, or the wearing of hearing aids.

　　“On hearing that a cochlear implant operation may help my daughter’s hearing, my family was extremely happy,” recalled Lin’s father. However, “we were disappointed at the huge sum of the operating fees,” Lin’s mother added.

　　Indeed, the nearly 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) operation was no doubt an astronomical figure for the poor family, whose annual income averaged at a mere 20,000 yuan (US$2,500).

　　The family living exclusively on tea planting was struggling.

　　“But it was the ‘hearing resuming’ programme that helped my daughter and my desperate family,” the father said.

　　With the aim of helping children suffering from deafness, China Rehabilitation Research Centre for Deaf Children, together with other related sectors such as the China Disabled Persons’ Federation and the China Welfare Foundation for the Handicapped, launched the “hearing resuming” programme in 2005.

　　Wang Yung-ching, chairman of ChangGungMemorialHospital in TaiwanProvince, last year donated some 200 sets of man-made cochlear implants worth 380 million yuan (US$47.5 million) to the China Welfare Foundation for the Handicapped to help more children suffering from hearing loss.

　　Wang intends to donate 14,750 sets of cochlear implants to deaf children on the mainland between 2006-13.

　　After strict selection processes, Lin Cailing was luckily chosen as one of the beneficiaries to receive the cochlear implant and proper treatment.

　　“It’s surprising! We didn’t expect to be the beneficiary,” the father said excitedly. “We are so lucky.”

　　Domestic expert Han Demin from Beijing arrived in Fujian to conduct the cochlear implant operation for Lin.

　　After a couple of months’ rehabilitation training in Fujian Rehabilitation Centre for Deaf Children, Lin Cailing could not only hear sounds, but also acquired more than 100 words and sentences and was even able to express her ideas articulately.

　　“We expect her future will be rosy,” Lin’s parents said.

　　Hearing resuming programme

　　The “hearing resuming” programme　has seen a great success since its launch in 2005, covering 15 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. About 200 deaf children from poor families, whose hearing aids were ineffective, have received cochlear implants and undergone convalescence training at 19 rehabilitation organizations across the country.

　　Governments at various levels have paid great attention to the recovery　of hard-of-hearing children. Since the National Programme of Action for Child Development in China (2001-10) was carried out in 2001, government and non-governmental　organizations, as well as overseas celebrities and societies, put forth a series of programmes to give timely assistance to deaf children in need.

　　The “improving hearing and helping the disabled” programme initiated in 2001, through government collective purchase, provided urban and rural poverty-stricken children with hearing problems with qualified hearing aids at lower prices.

　　During the past five years, provincial governments across the country have raised combined funds of more than 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) and drafted preferential policies to help 43,938 deaf children.

　　Another programme, “needy deaf children rehabilitation training project,” financially supported by the China Welfare Fund for the Handicapped and local governments, aims to provide poverty-stricken deaf children with free-of-charge hearing aids as well as hearing and oral rehabilitation training.

　　During the three years from 2002 to 2005, the fund and various local governments respectively invested 4.5 million yuan (US$562,500) and 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) to help 4,652 deaf children in need.

　　The “lottery for the recovery of deaf children” programme launched in 2004 offered hearing aids and tailored ear moulds to 3,750 deaf children and extended recovery subsidies for 48,000.

《中国日报》2006年9月