• by Beatriz Mallory , Columnist, April 12, 2018

The scenes of children and adults hearing for the first time seem like something out of a telenovela. Hispanic parents wistfully imagine the moment of activation for their own deaf child. It seems like a miracle that their child can finally be “normal.”

Based on the dozens of videos they watch, Hispanic parents and abuelos think all it takes is a safe surgical procedure, insertion of a cochlear implant, y ya. Instantly, they believe, their child will be able to speak “properly” and be integrated into his full extended family.

Cochlear implant surgery is invasive, requires significant pre-testing and post-surgical care. Not everyone with a hearing impairment can qualify for or benefit from the device. One must have moderate to profound hearing loss, and a functioning auditory nerve. After the implant is in place, developing or recovering language takes significant effort and years of speech therapy, no matter the age of deafness or age of implantation. 

Add to that the struggle the child and family may already have with the need to “speak” three languages at home — English, Spanish and English-based ASL. And if they have immigrant parents who are hearing impaired, they may only sign in Mexican Sign Language — lengua de señas mexicana or LSM. 

Unfortunately, cochlear implant device manufacturers create precious few marketing tools to guide Hispanic parents or hearing-impaired adults in understanding the reality of cochlear implants — and no materials at all to educate and support the physicians and therapists needing to serve these families.

So, imagine the clinical cochlear implantation team who must carry the full burden of educating Hispanic parents of a hearing-impaired child. A team has at least one audiologist, ENT surgeon, nurse, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, and often a social worker. And in most settings, there is a Spanish-language interpreter on call in person or via video who knows little about hearing impairment.

These teams currently have no choice but to make do. They use Google to cobble together Spanish-language materials or source materials from Latin American websites where FDA regulations don’t apply. Or implant centers create their own Spanish materials. But when the choice is between questionably accurate collateral and websites, or a confused parent or patient, the cobbled together materials have to suffice.

This demonstrates a lack of commitment and caring by device manufacturers that burdens not only the struggling family but encumbers the overwhelmed surgeons, audiologists, and the rest of the implant team as well.

This is only one example of how, in the absence of concerted Hispanic marketing strategy, device manufacturers and other health care industry marketers are actually hampering clinicians’ ability to empower a family to make better health care decisions. It’s time to face the facts that for clinical teams that care for Hispanic patients, life is not a novela, and it’s our responsibility as Hispanic marketers to make successful outcomes a reality.