The World Partial Deafness Center will be established in Kajetany near Warsaw. A significant part of it should be commissioned in mid-2011, it was announced on Monday at a press conference in Warsaw.
It is a recognition of the achievements of prof. Henryk Skarżyński, director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing (IFiPS) and his team in the field of treatment of partial deafness and other hearing problems.
Currently, the institute carries out the largest number of hearing improvement operations in the world, and the world pioneer of implanting cochlear implants into the inner ear, prof. Blade S. Wilson of the Duke Hearing Center in Durham, North Carolina, said he thought it was the best facility in the world for treating hearing loss and total hearing loss.
This center is an opportunity to build a strong position of Poland on the scientific and medical map of the world: a chance to undertake new research projects, to coordinate many projects under multi-center scientific agreements, to use the potential of Polish scientists in the development of new technologies. It is also an opportunity to make new therapeutic solutions available to Polish patients, because they will benefit from this project in the first place – mentioned at the conference prof. Skarżyński, considered a pioneer in the treatment of partial deafness.
In 2002, an otolaryngologist performed the world’s first cochlear implantation surgery for an adult with this hearing impairment. Previously, operations of this type were performed only in people with profound hearing loss and complete deafness.
Prof. Skarżyński, partial deafness consists in the fact that part of the inner ear is completely inactive, as a result, patients have normal or similar hearing sensitivity for low frequencies, but are deaf at medium and high frequencies. In these people, attempts to use hearing aids do not bring satisfactory results.
Before the pioneering operation in 2002, specialists were convinced that tampering with the inner ear of people with partial deafness could damage the remaining hearing. Prof. Skarżyński proved that by implanting a cochlear implant, even the smallest hearing remains can be preserved, while allowing the patient to hear sounds in the medium and high frequency range. It was possible thanks to the use of implants with non-standard electrodes and a new surgical method.
Initially, international experts were skeptical about Polish reports, but in recent years more and more attempts to treat partial deafness with this method have been made in the world. For now, our center is the only one that can do it with 100 percent. hearing remnants of the patient – emphasized prof. Skarżyński at the conference.
His team’s further work on treating partial deafness concerned children. In 2004, an otolaryngologist performed the first cochlear implant surgery in a child with this hearing impairment. Thus, a large group of toddlers with partial deafness – much larger than completely deaf children – had a chance to better understand speech, learn languages and listen to music, emphasized Dr. Eng. Artur Lorens, head of the Department of Implants and Hearing Perception at IFiPS.
In the following years, the team of prof. Skarżyński has developed many innovative methods of diagnosing and treating hearing disorders as well as rehabilitating patients who suffer from them. Scientists have developed, for example, a non-contact hearing aid for infants and an auditory implant with an innovative electrode that provides greater sound stimulation, which allows for better speech understanding and better rehabilitation. In 2006, prof. Skarżyński, for the first time in the world, performed an operation of bilateral implantation of hearing implants into the brainstem by musician Karol Nowakowski.
In 2009, at scientific conferences, incl. in Warsaw, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Vienna, Havana and many other cities in the world prof. Skarżyński presented a new concept of treating partial deafness that he developed.
The proof of Polish achievements in this field is the fact that in the international group of hearing experts – Expert Hearing Group – the team of prof. Skarżyński. In 2007, the idea of establishing the World Center for the Treatment of Partial Deafness in Kajetany was born.
One third of the expenditure needed to implement the project comes from IFiPS’s own resources, and two thirds come from the European Union funds.
Scientists announce that the center will include, among others, work on a new system of implants for the middle and inner ear; research on gene therapy for deafness, tinnitus therapy and regeneration of the damaged inner ear. They also plan to start a pilot program of hearing testing in European children. (PAP)