For the first time in India, the implantation was performed upon two youths in Ahmedabad on March 27 and 28 by Dr Vinod Khandar, a specialist in ear, nose, and throat diseases. Artist Satish Gujral had recently has such a device implanted in his ears, restoring his hearing, but the operation was performed abroad.

The two youths were had inexplicably developed total deafness during childhood. They can now hear.

The surgeon implants the button-sized device inside the ear, behind the cochlea. This is called the `ITH' or in-the-head device. The ITH is sensitive to magnetic waves. Then there is an `OTH' or on-the-head device, which the patient keeps. This is a sound processor which converts sound into magnetic waves and transmits to the `ITH'. The `ITH' delivers electrical impulses directly to the auditory nerve, and the patient can hear.

Says Khandar, ``I could see tears of joy running out of the eyes of the father of one of the youths.''

Khandhar, who runs Swarsudha Cochlear Implant Research Foundation in Ahmedabad, says, ``The technique is very simple and totally effective. The device can be fitted to even small children who are deaf by birth.''

``Actually'', Khandhar said, ``the patient cannot recognise the sound. After three weeks of the implantation the patient has to be sent for rehabilitation and training. There the patient learns lip movement, words of daily use and then starts perceiving sound signals.''

The patient is also advised to take extra care and not to go with the device switched on to areas where magnetic fields are strong, such as places near metal detectors, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, and surgical diathermy equipment.

Khandhar said the sound receptivity of a patient was about 40 percent if the device was implanted in one ear. ``But there is a totally new life ahead of him,'' he says. The only problem in India is the high cost of the device, which is sold as a package in the US market for $ 17,000 (about Rs 7 lakh).

Khandhar said, he approached Dr William F. House of California, who pioneered the process, and told him that a common patient in India could never afford this facility.

``Dr House was striving for less-expensive devices. When he came to know the hurdle he reduced the price of the device to $ 6,000 (approximately Rs 2.5 lakh),'' Khandar said.

But still several patients were unable to bear the cost. Khandhar said he started a scheme, purchased five devices and implanted the devices to two patients, Dhiraj Oza and Chaturbhai Rathod, free of cost. The remaining three devices were sold to patients at $ 3,850 by Dr House.

Khandhar said that there were total 43 organisations looking after the deaf and dumb in Gujarat and each has more than 100 deaf members. He said his centre would involve charities in the process of making the device available to as many people as possible.