Australia, Cochlear support Japan programme for child hearing implants

Cochlear

17/07/2024 05:59

SYDNEY, July 17 (Reuters) - Hearing impaired children in
Japan's coastal city of Shizuoka will from next year be able to
listen, learn and speak better thanks to an A$6.5 million ($4.4
million) programme funded by the city and the government of
Australia.
    Under the pilot programme, Australian child hearing
not-for-profit The Shepherd Centre will send personnel to train
experts at the Shizuoka Prefecture Hospital for three years, as
Japan tries to address hearing problems sooner and younger.
    The programme will use implants made by Cochlear Ltd.
 COH.AX .   
    Japan has one of the lowest adoption rates of hearing aids
and implants among developed countries, according to industry
data, as a result of the high threshold of hearing loss required
to receive government subsidies.
    Public health experts there want to lower the threshold and
the age when children can receive a cochlear implant - currently
one year - compared to six months in Australia.
    More than 90% of Australian children who would benefit from
a cochlear implant have one, according to industry data, and "to
see that replicated across Japan, as it has been across
Australia, would be an outstanding outcome", Cochlear CEO Dig
Howitt said in a statement.
    Aleisha Davis, CEO of the Shepherd Centre, said the
arrangement with the Shizuoka hospital followed 10 years of
discussions, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, whose
department supplied funding for the project, said it showed the
potential of collaboration between Australia and Japan.
    ($1 = 1.4841 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Byron Kaye; editing by Miral Fahmy)
 ((byron.kaye@thomsonreuters.com; +612 9171 7541; @byronkaye;))