The China WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Hearing Impairment has accomplished the following works during the reporting period.
I． Work on hearing impairment prevention
1.1 Organizing the 2010 National Ear Care Day and related promotional Activities throughout China
“Cochlear Implantation: Rebuilding the Hope for Hearing” has been designated as the theme of the 11th National Ear Care Day to be held on March 3, 2010. Various activities have been planned at local levels to promote the understanding of the cochlear implant candidacy selection and rehabilitation, and the prevention and management of hearing loss through a wide range of events, including charitable concerts, free medical evaluations, special seminars and grassroots educational programs, jointly supported by 15 ministries and central administrations of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Health, the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television, the State Food and Drug Administration, the Communist Youth League Central Committee , the National Women's Federation, the National Committee on Aging and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
1.2 Carrying out the gene screening nationwide
Since 2009, in addition to providing routine gene screening for deafness at the clinic, the CRRCDC has also organized professional teams to carry out deafness gene screening and counseling nationwide, so as to identify specific causes of deafness and to provide appropriate prevention measures and to formulate effective treatment programs. In 2009, the professional teams provided gene screenings to people at high and organized promotional workshops on deafness prevention and genetic testing in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. By January, 2010, the blood samples were collected and analyzed from 253 hearing-impaired children and their family members. Further promotion and similar services are to be provided throughout China shortly afterwards.
II. Training hearing aid dispensers, primary health care workers, rehabilitation teachers and other related professionals
2.1 Conducting professional training and competency certification for hearing aid dispensers
In November, 2009, CRRCDC held the second training course for hearing aid dispensers. While 86 local professionals from the country took the training, 52 were successful to receive the certificates of Level IV issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Ministry of Health.
From September to December, 2009, four pediatric hearing aid fitting and validation workshops were organized in Guangzhou and Beijing, focusing upon both theoretic basis and practical application. 117 fitters from 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) completed the training.
2.2 Training hearing and speech rehabilitation professionals
During November 20-26, CRRCDC held the first national speech therapy workshop for hearing impaired children in Beijing with 28 participants from 28 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions). Experts from Missouri State University, the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Tongren Hospital and CRRCDC presented a thorough and comprehensive training on various aspects of speech rehabilitation, disorder classifications, features of speech impairment, assessments and therapies.

III. Focusing on the pilot project of standardizing hearing and speech rehabilitation services at local levels
In September, 2009, CRRCDC started the first pilot project of standardizing hearing and speech rehabilitation services at local levels of Anqing city, Anhui province. A professional team went to carry out hearing screenings for children there, and to help establish screening models, flow processes, equipment setups and evaluation methods. They trained 66 local staff to conduct hearing screening. Up to now, a total of 19,342 children from 135 villages in Qianshan County have received hearing screening, accounting for 78.46% of the local target children. Subsequently, 72 children were diagnosed with hearing impairment in the follow up examinations, including 30 multi-handicapped children. 25 of them were admitted into the national assistance programs and have later received free hearing aids. (A project report will be submitted upon its completion.)
IV. Actively implementing national assistance programs
4.1 Continuing with the National HA Assistance Program Funded by the Public Welfare Fund Program for low income Hearing-impaired Children of CDPF Lottery)
The program aims to provide 12,000 children with free hearing aids, ear molds and batteries during the 11th Five Year Period and 521 rehabilitation centers have been designated as the qualified institutions to deliver rehabilitation training. To ensure the appropriate management of the centers, in December, CRRCDC dispatched a work group to carry out supervision and evaluation to 20 designated institutes in 10 provinces. Their roles were to focus on assessing the project execution, financial management and on-site rehabilitation training, to measure the rehabilitation outcomes of children fitted with hearing aids in 2007 and 2008, and to provide guidance to the implementation of help and assistance programs using the available local resources.
4.2 Implementing the CI Assistance Programs to low income children
CRRCDC has established a professional advisory committee made up of more than 40 well known domestic ENT physicians and audiologists. Under the auspice of the Ministry of Health and CDPF, 20 hospitals and 60 rehabilitation centers have been designated as institutions to undertake this project through evaluation. A technical workshop was held for surgeons participating in the project accordingly. On December 15, the first CI surgery of this project was successfully performed in Tongren Hospital. Up to now, a total of 116 candidates have received implantation surgeries after a series of evaluation.

V Strengthening the management of key programs and completing the professional standardizations
5.1 Program management.
In order to better manage the national key assistance programs, the Center has developed a series of documents in support of the CI Assistance Program for Low Income children by China’s Disable Persons’ Federation, including the Program Implementation Manual, the Selection Criteria and Screening Standards for Assistance Applicants, Rescreening Standards for the Candidacy, The Accreditation Criteria for Local Hearing Aid Fitting Agencies, the Accreditation Criteria for Rehabilitation Centers, and the Accreditation Criteria for Hospitals. At the same time, in November, CRRCDC professionals visited some designated hospitals to assess their capabilities of program execution and had completed the evaluation of 6 designated rehabilitation center applications, so as to further ensure the safety of surgery process and the postoperative rehabilitation.
5.2 Establishing professional standards
The project on standardizing hearing and speech rehabilitation service was launched in 2008. By far, the Collection of Standards and Criteria on Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation: I has been published, covering 8 standards, such as the Basic Standards for Rehabilitation Institutions, the Standards for Hearing Aids Fitting Centers, the Working Standards for Rehabilitation Training for Hearing-impaired Children, the Working Standards for Individualized Training for Hearing-impaired Children, the Technical Specifications of Hearing Aid Fitting, the National Professional Standards for Hearing Aid Dispensers, the General Applications Standards for Hearing Aids and the Magnetic Intensity of Induction Loop System for Hearing Instruments.

Three more standards have been drafted at the moment, the Standards for the Quality Inspection of Cochlear Implants, the Evaluation Criteria for hearing-impaired children in mainstreaming education and the National Professional Standards for Speech Therapists. Two more professional books are now on the way: the Terminologies of medical audiology and speech rehabilitation and the Terminologies for Educational audiology and speech rehabilitation.