Newborn hearing screening device `SOHUM’ launched

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The indigenously developed newborn hearing screening device – SOHUM, was formally launched by the Minister of State for Science and Technology & Earth Sciences,  Y S Chowdary, in New Delhi on July 17, 2017. The newborn hearing screening device has been developed by School of International Biodesign (SIB) startup M/s Sohum Innovation Labs India Pvt. Ltd.

This innovative medical device has been developed under Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, supported (SIB). Sohum is a low cost and unique device which uses brainstem auditory evoked response, the gold standard in auditory testing to check for hearing response in a newborn. As of now, this technology is prohibitively expensive and inaccessible to many. Start-up Sohum has made the technology appropriate for the resource constrained settings and aims to cater to nearly 26 million babies born every year in India, according to a PIB release.

One of the most common birth disorders – congenital hearing loss – is a result of both genetic and non-genetic factors. These factors are mostly associated with resource-poor economies such as India where, unlike advanced healthcare systems, hearing impairment goes undiagnosed. Thus, when it is discovered at 4+ years, it’s too late to reverse the damage and this leads to a host of problems such as impaired communication skills and even possible mental illness, all of which have a deep impact on the child emotionally and economically life-long, according to the PIB release.