Al Nahda Hospital conducts cochlear implant on world's youngest child

Muscat: Acting in cooperation with Al Nahda Hospital’s Cochlear Implant Programme and Anesthesia Department, a specialized medical team from the hospital’s Otorhinolaryngology (ENT surgery) Department successfully conducted a unique, complex cochlear implant surgery on the world's youngest infant--a 9-week-old boy suffering from cerebral meningitis. The operation lasted about two hours.

Dr. Yousef Ali Al Saidi, ENT consultant surgeon at Al Nahda Hospital (Head of the medical team), told Oman News Agency (ONA) that the cochlear implant procedure aims to improve hearing ability in individuals suffering from profound hearing loss, by directly stimulating the auditory nerve.

Al Saidi pointed out that such a surgery poses a medical challenge, notably when conducted on very young children, due to the sensitivity and complexity of the inner ear at this age. Before this, the youngest child to undergo this procedure was a 10-week old baby in the United States, he explained.