SIBU: The ENT (ear, nose and throat) Department of Sibu Hospital has received a boost in the form of an otoacoustic emission (OAE) machine.
The equipment is used to find out how well the inner ear, or cochlea, works. It measures OAE which is a low-level sound emitted by the cochlea either spontaneously or evoked by an auditory stimulus.
Ta Ann’s public relations chief Grace Mo and its recreation club president Ling Kuok Wei, yesterday handed over the donated machine which costs RM25,000 to the director of the hospital Dr Ngian Hie Ung.
According to Dr Ngian, the donation of the machine was timely as the hospital is lacking such in its baby ward.
“This machine is important as it is being used universally to screen babies to detect any abnormality in their hearing. If we don’t detect it early, parents will later complain that their child has hearing problem. So, we need early intervention,” she said.
To a question about tests using the machine, she said each baby takes between one to three minutes to be screened.
“After a child is born, we will wait from seven to eight hours before doing the screening,” she said.
On why Ta Ann made the donation, Mo said it was part of the group’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to give something back to society.
“We have been very supportive of the hospital and have made contributions to it almost every year,” she said.
