Behind the Ear Hearing Aids by Welfare of Differently Abled Persons

What is the Behind the Ear Hearing Aids scheme?

Behind the Ear Hearing Aids is an assistive device scheme of the Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, Government of Tamil Nadu. The department distributes behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids free of cost to hearing impaired persons, with school and college students as the priority group. Tamil Nadu supplies these aids together with solar rechargeable batteries, which is the practically important detail. An ordinary hearing aid battery costs money every few weeks, and a family that cannot keep replacing cells simply stops using the device.

A behind-the-ear aid is the workhorse of hearing rehabilitation. The electronics sit in a small case hooked over the pinna, and the amplified sound is carried down a tube to an earmould in the ear canal. It handles a wide range of hearing loss, it can be adjusted as a child's hearing changes, the earmould can be remade as a child grows, and it is repairable; all reasons it is preferred over smaller in-the-ear devices in a government distribution programme.

The department states the purpose plainly: to encourage hearing impaired students to wear hearing aids so that their speech capacity improves. That is the real point. A child with usable residual hearing who wears an aid consistently during the school years develops speech and follows classroom teaching; the same child without an aid falls behind in both. The scheme is therefore an education intervention as much as a medical one, and district offices treat student applications accordingly.

The scheme sits alongside the department's other aids and appliances, tricycles, motorised tricycles, battery-operated wheelchairs, modular artificial limbs, calipers and crutches, and is delivered by the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer (DDAWO) in each district collectorate. District listings describe the item as a "behind the ear hearing aid (modular type)" distributed based on individual need each year.

Who is eligible, and who is not eligible?

You can apply if:

• You have a hearing impairment certified by a government medical board.
• You have a recent audiogram from a government hospital ENT or audiology department establishing the degree and type of loss.
• You are a resident of the district where you apply.
• You have residual hearing that an aid can amplify usefully, this is what the audiological assessment establishes.
• You are a student in a school or college, which places you in the scheme's priority group, or a hearing impaired person outside education for whom the district has allotment.
• You have not already been issued a hearing aid under any scheme within its normal replacement period.

You are not eligible if:

• You have no disability certificate from a government medical board. A private clinic's certificate or an audiogram from a hearing aid dealer is not accepted on its own.
• The audiological assessment shows profound loss with no usable residual hearing that an air-conduction BTE aid can address. Such cases are counselled towards other interventions, and the family should ask the DDAWO and the ENT department what applies.
• You are not resident in Tamil Nadu.
• You have recently received a hearing aid under this or another government scheme and are within its replacement period.
• You are seeking reimbursement for an aid bought privately. The scheme supplies the device; it does not refund a purchase.

What documents are required?

Carry originals with one self-attested photocopy set.

How to apply for a behind-the-ear hearing aid

1. Get the hearing tested at a government hospital. Ask the ENT department for a pure tone audiogram and an audiological assessment report. This is the document that decides which aid is issued, so a recent test matters more than an old one.
2. Obtain the disability certificate from the district medical board on the strength of that assessment. If you hold a UDID card, carry it as well.
3. Collect the prescribed application form from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office at your district collectorate. Several district collectorate websites publish the aids and appliances application as a downloadable PDF.
4. Fill the form completely, entering the degree of hearing loss in each ear, whether the applicant is a student, and the school or college where studying.
5. Attach self-attested copies of the disability certificate, audiogram, Aadhaar, residence proof, photograph and — for students, the bonafide certificate, and sign the declaration that no aid has been received earlier.
6. Submit the application at the District Differently Abled Welfare Office and take an acknowledgement with a reference number and date.
7. Attend the assessment or fitting camp when called. Earmould impressions are usually taken at this stage so that the mould fits the individual ear.
8. Collect the aid, sign the distribution register, and ask for the warranty paper, battery details and the servicing route before you leave the camp.

What happens after the hearing aid is issued?

A hearing aid that sits in a drawer helps nobody, and district staff will say the same. Three practical points matter after distribution:

• Wear it consistently. Speech benefit in children depends on daily use over months, not occasional use.
• Look after the earmould. A mould that no longer fits: common as a child grows: causes whistling feedback and makes the aid unpleasant to wear. A new mould can be made; ask the DDAWO.
• Use the solar charging unit supplied with the aid, and report any failure of the charger or the batteries to the same office rather than buying replacements from a shop.

Repairs and replacements go back through the District Differently Abled Welfare Office, which is why the warranty paper and the distribution receipt are worth keeping.

How do you check the status of an application?

There is no online tracking system for this scheme. The route is:

1. Keep the acknowledgement slip from submission.
2. Follow up at the District Differently Abled Welfare Office with the reference number, and ask whether the name is on the current year's sanctioned list and when the next fitting camp is scheduled.
3. Where the district's annual allotment is exhausted, ask for the application to be carried into the next allotment, in writing.
4. Escalate at the District Collector's weekly grievance day where the application has crossed more than one distribution cycle.

Why do applications get rejected, and how are they fixed?

• No audiogram, or an audiogram from a private dealer. Get a government hospital audiological assessment.
• Disability certificate absent or expired. Attend the district medical board.
• Audiogram does not support fitting with an air-conduction BTE aid. Ask the ENT department and the DDAWO what alternative applies.
• Applicant received an aid recently. Wait for the replacement period, or apply in writing with reasons where the aid is beyond repair.
• Name or date-of-birth mismatch across the Aadhaar, disability certificate and audiogram. Correct the record before submitting.
• Application filed in the wrong district. File where the applicant resides and studies.
• Deferred rather than rejected because the annual allotment is exhausted. Ask explicitly which of the two happened, the next step is different in each case.

Where can an applicant raise a grievance?

• The District Differently Abled Welfare Officer at the district collectorate. Districts publish their own contacts, the Thanjavur office is at Room No. 14, Ground Floor, Collectorate Building Campus, Thanjavur 613010, and Ranipet's DDAWO is on 04172 274177.
• The District Collector's weekly grievance day.
• The Commissionerate for the Welfare of the Differently Abled, Chennai, through scd.tn.gov.in.
• The State Commissioner for the Differently Abled, for a complaint under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

The hearing aid is free. No fee is payable to anyone, and no dealer can secure a government aid faster. Any demand for money should be reported to the DDAWO and the Collector.

What related support should a hearing impaired student check?

One visit to the District Differently Abled Welfare Office with the disability certificate and audiogram is usually enough to open all of these at once. Ask for the full list, and enrol with the Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Welfare Board during the same visit, since the board's later benefits require membership before the event.