The Cochlear Implant Group of India (CIGI), with great pride and pleasure, offers its Oration to Professor Ranjith Rajeswaran for the year 2024.
Prof. Ranjith, you have been blessed with immense knowledge and great passion towards your profession. Your practice in this profession with ethics and morality over the last 25 years in the field of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, working towards Prevention, Restoration and Rehabilitation for persons with Communication Disorders, is duly appreciated.
You completed your graduation and postgraduation from Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed University). Your submitted doctoral research on “Application of Auditory Potentials in Auditory Brainstem Implantation” represents a significant clinical endeavour demonstrating new insights and pieces of evidence on this unique subject, which was instrumental in approving Auditory Brainstem Implants for children in the European Union. You are presently the Principal / Managing Director of MERF-Institute of Speech and Hearing, Chief Audiologist at Madras ENT Research Foundation, and the Founder of ‘Hearing for Life Foundation’. You serve as an expert and Key opinion leader in setting trends in the field of Hearing Implants. You are one of the founder members of Cochlear Implant Group of India and HEARING Group (A network of pre-eminent international centres offering comprehensive hearing implant solutions for the treatment of hearing loss) for research and development. You are a “Know How” partner in Hearing Health Care Alliance, through which you started professional degree programs in Audiology & Speech Language Pathology in Bangladesh and many African countries.
The First Recipient of CIGI Oration: A Landmark Achievement in 2012
Your mentoring master, Padmashree Prof. Dr. Mohan Kameswaran, the First Recipient of CIGI Oration in the year 2012, has parented you and guided you throughout your professional journey. You have always taken him as your great inspiration throughout your successful journey of catering services in providing Hearing care for all – the theme of your ‘Hearing for Life Foundation’.
First Audiologist to Lead Auditory Brain Stem Implantation in India and South-East Asia
You, being a life member of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association and a member of the International Society of Audiology, are the FIRST Audiologist in India, South and South East Asia to have worked on an AUDITORY BRAIN STEM IMPLANT. You are one of the pioneers of Implantation Audiology in the world and were also responsible for starting Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation centres in many cities in India and many hearing restoration centres in SAARC countries and Africa. You bag the credit for being the first in India to introduce Auditory Steady State Response (Objective Test for frequency-specific Hearing Sensitivity) in 2002. You are the First to perform Electrically Evoked Auditory Brainstem Responses for Cochlear Implants in India. You have introduced Tele-audiology in 2004 and performing remote intraoperative monitoring since 2018 – which came into robust use during COVID times. You also served as the President of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association –Tamil Nadu, an Advisory Member to the Global Cochlear Implant Access Network (GCIAN) and served as the former Vice President of the Cochlear Implant Group of India. You are also the Global Ambassador of the International Smiling Crocodile Programme.
“Renowned Academic Leader: Award-Winning Educator and Innovator Behind the ‘Soft Audiometer’ with National and International Accolades”
You have been several research grants and you also own a Copyright for “Soft Audiometer” developed under the National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation & Development (NHHID) grant from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Adding a crown to your academic services, you have received the “Best Teacher” Award by the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and the “Outstanding Alumni” in Research and Education Awarded by Sri Ramachandra University.
Empowering Communities Through Hearing Restoration: Expanding Accessibility and Rehabilitation Across Tamil Nadu
You have been involved in Community services to create awareness of Hearing Restoration and have established a network of rehabilitation centres across the state of Tamil Nadu to facilitate rehabilitation after hearing restoration. ‘To get is a blessing; to give is a noble deed’. Through the Hearing for Life Foundation, a charitable trust founded by you and your parents, you have extended your noble deed to underprivileged individuals with communication disorders by providing early identification and early intervention services by reaching the nook and corner of the state. Many individuals have received amplification devices free of cost through you. Mobile Hearing and Speech services have been provided in the name of Project Chithra.
Advancing Hearing Care in Remote and Rural Tamil Nadu
You have been the Principal Investigator for many Collaborative Research Programs conducted at many centres all over the world. You have been involved in academic teaching for more than 20 years. You have guided students of Audiology and Engineering for Dissertations and, have authored more than 50 papers and chapters in textbooks and co-authored several research papers which were presented at National and International conferences. You have organized and attended many National Conferences and International conferences and workshops. Your brainchild workshop, “Bringing Science to practice has gained global recognition, inspiring hearing professionals from around the world every year. The Cochlear Implant Education Program is yet another brainchild program of your mentor, Prof. Dr. Mohan Kameswaran & which you meticulously executed, creating a deep impact in the community by educating parents and teachers in the remote and rural areas of Tamil Nadu.
“Prof. Ranjith’s Pioneering Contributions to Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Education in India”
Prof. Ranjith serves as an Expert Advisory Committee Member in the Rehabilitation Council of India and an Executive Committee Member at Anna University, Chennai. Being a Member of the Board of Studies at The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, you have provided great insights about carrying out academic courses in the field of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. You were instrumental in starting the Auditory Habilitation course for the Special Educators / Teachers to train children with cochlear implantation for the first time in India.
Prof. Ranjith has been recognized as a young, dynamic Individual with a vision of moving forward and taking your institution to greater heights. You have been a trendsetter in many ways and are fondly loved and idolized by all your colleagues, peers, faculty members, and students. You always appreciate and acknowledge the innovations in the field and have always been the first in the field to use “cutting-edge technology with “state-of-the-art infrastructure”, taking audiology to the next level of clinical care without compromising on ethics and good clinical practice. It is fascinating to think of you as someone with never-ending stamina – with superhuman ability to keep on going with resilience. Your extraordinary endurance to serve people in need anytime is highly commendable.
MERF-ISH operates round the clock under your expertise, where you and your followers work with high passion and dedication all the time. Your entire lifeline revolves around MERF-ISH and your profession.
Prof Ranjith, you never start a day without seeking the Wisdom and Blessings from Lord Ganesha and you get easily recharged with a cup of ‘hot green tea’. I feel bothered when you are cautious about the physical and mental well-being of you and your loved ones.
As you work towards your victory, you behave with humility, grace, and kindness to others. We appreciate how you always share your success with your team, and your love for your community is one of the reasons you have ascended to the peak of your career. All your achievements and distinctions have made you one of the finest and most notable audiologists in the world. You are today globally recognized as the identity of India in the field of Audiology.
Let us wish Prof Ranjith Rajeswaran many more years of hard work and success.
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