The television series La Torad wa la Tostabdal (Don’t Return or Exchange), starring Ahmed Al-Saadani and Dina Al-Sherbini, brought the issue of children with hearing impairments to the fore recently through the character of the young girl Mecca played by six-year-old Leen Mahrous.
Mahrous herself has a cochlear implant, a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that can provide an individual with sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. This means that in the series she required little effort to convey the voice of children in similar circumstances.
Mahrous receives rehabilitation sessions at the Nidaa Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Hearing Impaired and Persons with Multiple Disabilities. Visiting the centre, Al-Ahram Weekly encountered many other children who have undergone cochlear implantation and were taking their first steps along the long path of rehabilitation.
Among them was Malek, roughly Mahrous’ age, who spoke enthusiastically about the letters of his name that he can now pronounce after regular attendance at speech therapy sessions and rehabilitation programmes.
Malek slowly spelled out his name, and with each letter he pronounces, he took a joyful step forward and smiled. He talked about what he studies every day, proudly demonstrating what he has learned, sometimes looking into people’s eyes, at other times seeking reassurance in the gaze of his teacher.
He attends the rehabilitation centre almost daily, but his family wants to enrol him in a regular school. Undoubtedly, before he goes his mother will want to warn him not to let anyone come close to the device that is attached to one of his ears.
The mother of another child who has undergone cochlear implantation said that she was able to enrol her son in a regular school rather than one designated for the deaf and mute. She added that the decision to proceed with the implantation was extremely difficult, but there was no alternative.
She expressed the anxiety that her child might stumble or fall, damaging the external component of the implant. Spare parts, she explained, are expensive, and she feared she may not be able to afford them. This is in addition to speech therapy sessions, which have no fixed end date and depend entirely on each child’s individual response.
The same concerns were shared by the mother of seven-year-old Malika. “We live every day worrying about the maintenance of the hearing device or the need for upgrades, alongside endless speech therapy sessions. The TV series has ended, but our suffering has not,” she said.
Omaima Lokma, a rehabilitation specialist and programme designer for hearing-impaired children and cochlear implant users at the Nidaa Centre, said that rehabilitation consists of 10 levels and is not limited to speech therapy sessions alone.
“It is an educational and developmental rehabilitation programme,” she said. “Our aim is for the hearing-impaired child to communicate and interact.”
She noted that parents often believe speech therapy alone will achieve this, but in reality the child is being prepared for real life through an entire programme, learning discipline, self-care, conversational etiquette, social manners, emotional balance, and social integration, and not merely linguistic skills.
Lokma said that the rehabilitation is far more effective and successful when the parents are actively involved. Their role complements that of the centre, alongside society, and this integration builds the child’s self-confidence.
She also noted that a first obstacle often comes from within the family itself, in the form of the denial of the child’s disability. This obstacle has been reduced by the introduction of newborn hearing screening in 2019, which helps families recognise the issue early on.
She pointed out that cochlear implantation surgery is provided free of charge under the health insurance system for children, but only after first fitting a hearing aid and confirming that it is ineffective for the child.
INITIATIVES: A presidential initiative for the early detection and treatment of hearing loss among newborns has been launched under the 100 Million Health Campaign.
The initiative is meant to screen newborns for any hearing problems within the first 28 days of life at primary healthcare units and to provide diagnosis, follow-up and treatment, whether medical, surgical, or through hearing aids, free of charge, in order to prevent hearing disability.
Alongside the presidential initiative, the Attaa Fund, a charitable investment fund supporting persons with disabilities, has developed a unified, nationally accredited rehabilitation and educational programme for hearing-impaired children, hearing-aid users, and cochlear implant recipients. The programme focuses on language and speech development in preparation for school.
According to the fund, its curriculum has been approved by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, and it covers the first eight years of a child’s life, from the time they begin using a hearing aid until they acquire full language and speech skills.
In cooperation with partner institutions, the fund has also produced a practical guide for teachers and specialists outlining the activities required for rehabilitation, along with an assessment tool to measure children’s auditory and linguistic skills. Some 122 teachers have been trained to rehabilitate and integrate children with hearing impairments in 83 schools in Cairo and Giza, as well as 90 specialists working with hearing-impaired children in 32 associations across 14 governorates. Printed copies of the programme are distributed to all trainees.
The fund has also organised awareness workshops for parents on family guidance, including information on the rights of hearing-impaired children and cochlear implant recipients and the importance of integrated rehabilitation and education systems across a number of governorates.
Iman Sadek, a professor of audiology and balance medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in Cairo, said that cochlear implantation is a major medical breakthrough for children with hearing impairment, particularly in cases of severe hearing loss that obstructs language development and communication.
She noted that state-led initiatives for newborn hearing screening have played a vital role in early detection and timely intervention.
Treatment always begins with the use of hearing aids, while cochlear implantation is considered an effective alternative when these prove ineffective, she said. During the procedure, an implant is introduced into the ear, and this can be suitable for children of different ages if there are no medical contraindications, such as a prior history of meningitis or congenital defects of the cochlear nerve.
She added that state support has contributed to a marked increase in the number of cochlear implantation procedures.
The psychological preparation of families and broader societal awareness remain essential to accepting the idea of cochlear implantation, she said, as well as correcting any misconceptions about the procedure and its outcomes, thereby ensuring the best possible results for the child concerned.
Lokma criticised the failure to classify children with cochlear implants as persons with disabilities entitled to the Integrated Services Card, however.
She argued that these children need the card to enrol in schools and to access life-facilitating services, pointing out that once any component of the hearing device malfunctions, it effectively becomes a piece of metal, leaving the child isolated from the world.
The Abwab Al-Khair Foundation for Care and Development is also working on a project targeting children with hearing impairments, as well as some adults, by providing maintenance and spare parts for cochlear implants under the slogan “Help Them Hear.”
In 2025, the foundation offered hope to 49 hearing-impaired children by providing cochlear implant spare parts at a cost of LE1.4 million.
Haitham Al-Tabaei, founder and chief executive officer of the foundation, said that the cochlear implant project is one of the foundation’s largest initiatives, as the cost of implant maintenance is beyond the financial means of most families, with the average price of a single spare part exceeding LE40,000.
He explained that the alternative is for the child to lose the ability to communicate, learn, and live a normal life. Providing cochlear implant maintenance does not merely aim to improve hearing capacity, but to give children a genuine opportunity for education and development, enabling them to access better employment prospects and ease some of the burden on their families.
“That is why we provide regular maintenance. Any damage to a single component means the child’s life comes to a standstill: no school, no playing with friends, confinement to a room. The cochlear implant is their gateway to life,” he added.
Al-Tabei cited the case of Taha, a child with both hearing and visual impairments, who needs a cochlear implant at a cost of LE79,000. This fell within a project to provide 28 cochlear implant spare parts for 16 children from low-income families, at a total cost exceeding LE500,000.
He said that most of the families supported by the foundation have a modest monthly income, with some not even reaching the minimum wage of LE7,000. When a cochlear implant stops functioning, the family is often unable to raise the required funds, and the child’s disability may persist for over a year, severely hindering skills development or causing regression in skills already acquired.
He also noted that in July last year the foundation had signed a cooperation protocol with the Embassy of Ireland in Egypt, under which the embassy supported around 35 hearing-impaired children out of a total of 150 across different governorates.
The foundation carries out cochlear implant maintenance for these children as part of the “Help Them Hear” initiative, and the embassy provided financial support amounting to LE581,792 as part of the “A Better Life” project adopted by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
On social media platforms, dozens of groups have emerged for mothers accompanying their children on their hearing journey. They exchange advice, raise awareness, celebrate small victories, and support one another through painful moments.
One of them is the mother of Shams, and she celebrates small milestones with her son, documenting a video of him successfully pronouncing letters, for example, while carefully covering his face with a Batman mask to protect his privacy on social media.
These mothers also share practical warnings and guidance, foremost among them discouraging mobile phone use, as it distracts the child at a time when direct engagement with those around them is essential.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 29 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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