The new implant will prove to be a boon to diabetic patients who end up with hearing loss as well as for people who lose their hearing in viral fever or accident injury.

Even though there is no data available on how many people suffer from moderate and severe hearing loss, doctors at Lilavati Hospital say that of all the diabetic patients, there are 5 to 10 per cent people with hearing loss.

This implant eliminates many of the inherent issues of the conventional hearing aids, such as occlusion, feedback, discomfort, and the need for ear wax-related repairs. It also provides a measurable improvement in sound quality and clarity. Many patients have also reported improvement in noisy environments compared to conventional hearing aids.

Even though the cost of this implant is almost four times the conventional hearing aid, the doctors are confident that it will prove to be more advantageous than the hearing aids.

The implant, which took almost three years to come to India, costs Rs 4 lakh as compared to hearing aids costing anywhere between Rs 5,000 to and 1 lakh.

“Discrimination in sounds with this implant is clearer than the hearing aid. Even today, many patients are concerned about the stigma attached to wearing a hearing aid but with this implant, only a small battery is visible that too behind the ear,” said Dr Sanjay Kapadia, Ear Nose Throat surgeon at the Lilavati Hospital.