Lending an ear to children

Children with hearing impairment receive training at the China Rehabilitation and Research Center for Deaf Children. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Hu Xiangyang, president of the China Rehabilitation and Research Center for Deaf Children, became increasingly busy just before the National Ear Care Day, which fell on Monday.

To raise public awareness of ear and hearing protection, the China Disabled Person's Federation initiated National Ear Care Day in 2000, and since then it is observed annually on March 3.

Every year, Hu directs the center to prepare for a hearing-protection-themed concert jointly held by 15 ministries, including the federation and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

This year, the charity concert was staged on Monday evening at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Similar concerts were also held in five other cities, including Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Founded in 1983 by the China Disabled Person's Federation, the China Rehabilitation and Research Center for Deaf Children shoulders responsibility to reduce hearing loss burden in China and help children who suffer from severe hearing loss.

Losing the chance to develop language and speech, nine out of 10 deaf children in China were mute, and special schools for those children could only teach them sign language in the 1980s, according to Hu.

"We serve as the national research and promotion center for hearing-loss intervention and language rehabilitation. We hope to provide the most advanced rehabilitation technologies and best professionals for children with hearing loss," Hu says.

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