September 30, 2021: VAANI along with its partner “Sohum Innovation Lab” together with the Guwahati Medical College Hospital launched the Universal New Born Hearing Screening Programme piloting the ‘Sohum’ device for early screening of all New Born at the hospital in Guwahati, Assam.             

VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in 2005 and working in the realm of empowering the disabled through early detection and special education programs for children with hearing disability. The most unique aspect about the work is that they do not only teach deaf children but also their parents - thus ensuring that the training is sustainable and that parents are equipped to handle the child’s needs of communication, learning, and comprehension.

The Foundation work on the social and emotional development of children with specific focus on individual needs. Their commitment is quite simple, access for every deaf child using the means most appropriate for their individual circumstances, so that they can understand, influence and most importantly, participate in the world around them.

Annually 800,000 babies are born with HI all over the world and out of which 1, 00,000 are born in India. Pre-lingual Hearing Impairment impacts speech, cognitive development & vocational attainment. A very important area which is missing in Indian scenario is the Early identification & screening of hearing loss in newborns. This increases the difficulty of language development and comprehension, as the critical early four years are lost where the brain is most flexible of grasping anything and everything around it. Moreover, due to lack of stimulus during these four crucial years, leads to delayed reflexes from the child and has a negative impact also on other developments. Thus the issue needs immediate attention.

With the beginning of this, the Foundation hope to expand it across the State and enable

● Early screening for identifying deafness in babies as early as they are born and start the intervention without any further delay.

● Supporting parents and families in their efforts to understand their child’s hearing loss.

● Information, training, and consultation for parents and family to allow for an increased understanding of their child’s unique needs.

● Networking opportunities for families to meet others who have children with hearing loss.

● Inclusion of Children with Hearing Impairment in Mainstream setup.