By IANS,
New Delhi: In a difficult and rare surgery, a team of doctors here successfully did the auditory brainstem implant (ABI) on a two-and-half-year old girl from Ladakh, who was born with hearing impairment.
“Tsesla is the first recipient of an ABI in north India and second in Asia. ABI is a technique in which a small chip is placed in the brainstem to restore hearing sensation,” J.M. Hans, a senior doctor at the B.L. Kapoor Memorial Hospital here, said Tuesday.
“It takes at least two months before the brain starts responding to the chip. It is only a matter of time, with the appropriate auditory and speech training that Tsesla would begin to hear and speak normally,” Hans, who led a team of doctors to conduct the surgery said.
The ABI consists of a small electrode applied to the brainstem – central area of the brain – a small microphone on the outer ear and a speech processor.