At a time when buying hearing aids is quite a costly affair, the Assistance to Disabled Persons (ADIP) scheme under the Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare Department provides aids and appliances to persons with special abilities at a lower cost.
Director of AIISH, Dr Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj said, “The hearing aids are bought on a rate contract basis, so the cost is much less.” Speaking to City Herald, she said that at AIISH, ‘Body Worn Hearing Aids’ are provided free of the cost for people whose income is less than Rs 6,500. People whose income is less than Rs 10,000 also get a discount of 50 per cent.
Head of Electronics Department, Dr Ajish K Abraham said that people with a higher income will also get hearing aids at a lower price. He said the hearing aids available in the market are available at AIISH for half the price. Apart from that an audiologist at the institute provides free consultation and suggest the type of hearing aid based on the amount of hearing loss.
Apart from the hearing aid, a solar charger, which costs around Rs 800 in the market is also given with the hearing aids. Dr Abraham observed, “Most of the batteries last for five-six days. So, the recurring cost increases.” To avoid this problem, the insitute provides a solar charger with the hearing aid. AIISH also provides travelling allowance of Rs 250 and dearness allowance of Rs 30 for the people who turn up for the tests. The hearing aids are distributed at camps which are regularly conducted by AIISH and its three outreach centres in Mandya, Chamarajnagar and Mysore District.
Dr Abraham said that there is a strong possiblity that the ADIP scheme might be revised to provide ‘Behind The Ear’ hearing aids instead of the ‘Body Worn Hearing Aids’ as the proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare Department. He said that ‘Behind The Ear’ hearing aids are available in both analog and digital forms. The advantage of using digital hearing aids is that it can be programmed so that amplification to the exact frequency of hearing loss can be provided. Whereas an analog hearing aid has to be programmed in such a way that amplification is provided based on the average hearing loss of a person across different frequencies.
While at the same explaining the advantages of an analog hearing aid, Dr Abraham said that the cost of repair less than that of repairing digital hearing aids. He said that the functions of a hearing aid can be affected due to the climatic conditions. In such a case analog hearing aids are cheaper and are more rugged. Also the maximum repair cost for an analog hearing aid is around Rs 100.
Dr Abraham said that AIISH conducts a free camp during October and November for one week during which service and spares required for hearing aids are provided free of cost.
Statistics
* 2006-07: 3085 aids at AIISH; 503 at camps.
* 2007-08: 1961 at AIISH; 369 at camps
* 2008-09: 554 at AIISH; 79 at camps
* 2009-10: 4161 at AIISH; 493 at camps