Help is available in Guyana for hearing impaired children, says audiology specialist

Dr Ruth Quaicoe

A three-year-old boy is overheard speaking gibberish as he happily skips up the stairs of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) in the company of his mother, who has a baby in her arms.
His mother did not appear to be bothered by the fact that her son was not making any sense with his speech but Head of the Audiology Department Dr Ruth Quaicoe, a Consultant Audiological physician, was immediately concerned as she passed the woman and her child.

So concerned was she that she immediately put down her bag and sought the mother out and asked about the child’s speech and hearing; she was told: “Nah man, he don’t hear too well but he hearing don’t worry with he.” When she found out the child was three years old the doctor told the mother that the boy had a problem and she needed to have his hearing tested, or in another three years he may not be able to say anything.

Two hours later the mother visited the department and after the test was done it was discovered that “he really was not hearing anything.” She said the child could not hear anything that made sense to him, and as result he spoke gibberish when at his