A 40-year-old Mirzapur resident and a 24-year-old Saidpur resident from Darbhanga, both of whom are deaf but can speak, might soon perceive sound, thanks to Darbhanga's Shekhar Netralaya and ENT Hospital.

Doctors at the hospital performed free cochlear implant surgeries on both the patients on Sunday. The duo were not deaf since childhood but suffered loss of hearing owing to some kind of ear disorder later in their lives.

'Both patients were suffering from post-lingual deafness, which means they could hear earlier. They knew what sound was. The cochlear implant surgery can be done on deaf and mute children but it can show even better results in patients who had hearing loss and those who had earlier experienced sound. The cochlear implant surgery is followed by speech therapy in which experts acquaint patients with speech and patients, who had earlier experienced sound, tend to restore sound more early than those born with deafness,' said Ashish Shekhar, the director of the hospital.

He said under the guidance of Delhi-based Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Ashish K. Lahiri, the hospital's ear, nose, throat (ENT) surgeon Amit Shekhar performed both the surgeries. Kranti Bhavna, the head of the ENT department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna, also confirmed that patients suffering from post-lingual deafness were ideal candidates for cochlear implant surgery.

Ashish said: 'We are expecting both patients to start perceiving sound by the third week. However, it is only a possibility as of now.'

Ashish added that the hospital had made arrangements for the speech therapy of the patients for six months.

'The first two surgeries were conducted free of cost but further cochlear implant surgeries taken up at the hospital would not be free for patients,' added Ashish.

'Patients would have to pay around Rs 6.1 lakh for the surgery, which is the implant cost. While the government hospital gets subsidies on implants from the Union government, private hospitals don't get any such subsidy.'