Hearing Aid and its Efficiency Among a Deaf Clan in Meghalaya

The current research is an inquiry on the awareness of healthcare facilities and the availability of rehabilitative measures by a deaf community belonging to a particular called Nongsteng in Meghalaya. Purposive sampling was applied to collect data from 22 deaf male informants (n = 22) and 42 deaf female informants (n = 42) from 12 years and above. A semi-structured schedule comprising pertinent questions was constructed concerning self-reported morbidity, opinion on the importance of seeking medical intervention, and particular focus was emphasised on the advice and usage of hearing aid and the degree of assistance provided by the equipment. The findings revealed that 87.5% of male and 92.31% of female informants were dissatisfied with the hearing aids as they offered little or no assistance in aural rehabilitation. Thus, even though hearing aids were distributed for free, they failed to achieve the assigned task as most informants did not receive the benefit. Therefore, the study suggests that with the implementation of programmes like these, a follow-up of timely screenings of the beneficiaries is required to monitor the efficacy of the introduced equipment.