High quality testing at RAC
By Ananda KANNANGARA
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A child being tested
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Hearing impaired children and adults in the country could now obtain
high quality testing and treating at reasonable rates from a fully
fledged medical institution, the Ratmalana Audiology Centre (RAC).
The RAC, which is located at Borupana Road, Ratmalana provides
digital technology-driven diagnostic service to detect and restore
partial hearing in people.
At a media briefing in the RAC Auditorium at Ratmalana, former
National Hospital, Consultant ENT Surgeon Dr. T.R.C. Ruberu said that
although statistics on actual number of hearing impaired persons in the
country are not available, nearly three out of 1,000 new born babies
could have hearing deficiencies.
Dr. Ruberu, who provides a voluntary service to the RAC Management
Council also highlighted the invaluable service rendered by the RAC for
needy section in the society and said that sophisticated equipment are
also available to detect hearing deficiencies in infants at an early
stage.
He also said that parents must be vigilant about their infants who do
not talk even after one and half years and advised them to diagnose the
ailment with an ENT surgeon.
RAC, Assistant Manager Harsha Maduranga highlighted that his
audiology centre offers wide variety of tests designed to suit the
needs, age and ability of the person being tested and said all tests
require a specially trained staff to perform and interpret the results.
He said Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) is a standard hearing test which
will be done to establish the degree of hearing loss in a person.
The person being tested for PTA wears a pair of headphones and
responds to hearing tones.
"Tympanometry is a procedure that changes pressure in the ear canal
and it is helpful to identify the problems in the middle ear," he said.
Among other tests, the Otoacoustic Emissions test, the Auditory
Brainstem Response test and the Auditory Steady State Response test are
also very vital to check the problems of the inner ear, to measure
hearing sensitivity and to confirm the degree of hearing loss
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