Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory in the Indian sub-continent with a very diverse and large population. There was no existing data regarding the prevalence of communication disorder in this region and hence, this study was taken up. This information was considered essential for creating awareness among the population about communication impairments, for providing rehabilitation and to improve policies and facilities for the affected individuals. Method: The study was completed in two phases. In the first phase, a door to door survey was carried out by students and staffs of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru, in the islands. During this phase, all individuals with communication disorders were identified and referred for a two-day camp that followed. The second phase involved diagnosis and rehabilitation of these referred individuals in a camp site set in a well accessible point in the capital city of Port Blair. Results: 4.12% of the population that was surveyed got referred for the camp. Amongst the referred individuals who participated in the camp, the prevalence of ear-related problems was estimated to be 47.76%, and that of speech and language disorders came up to 52.24%. It was also noticed that males were more affected by communication disorder than females. Conclusion: The prevalence values were found to be quite high in city of Port Blair and immediate action is required in terms of facilities and infrastructure in these areas for improving the quality of life of individuals with communication disorders. Zealand (20.0); (20.0) in Australia; in the African countries like Botswana (2.2), Chad (20.9), Ethiopia (3.8), Ghana (12.8), Kenya (15.2), Malawi (14.0), Mali (9.8), Senegal (15.5), Tanzania (9.5), Uganda (3.5) and Zambia (14.8); in North American countries like Canada (18.5), United States (19.4), Mexico (2.3); in South America Brazil (14.5), Nicaragua (10.0), Ecuador (12.1), Uruguay (16.0); in

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Objectives: The phonetic content of Malayalam is different from English and other Indian languages as it may contain more low frequency energy. The present study aimed to determine the frequency importance function (FIF) for monosyllables of Malayalam Language. Study design: Nineteen monosyllables spoken by a native female Malayalam speaker was used for the study. The speech stimuli were digitally filtered into 20 high pass and 20 low pass conditions. Speech noise was added to create nine conditions with SNRs of +8, +6, +4, +2, 0, −2, −4, −6 and −8 dB. The filtered stimuli were presented at these SNRs to 10 normal-hearing Malayalam speakers and were asked to identify the phonemes. Results: The FIF estimated in Malayalam language was compared with the FIF in English obtained from the published literature. The result shows that Malayalam has more weightage for low frequencies compared to English. The probable reason could be because of the inherent phonetic differences. The use of more nasalized speech which has low frequency content might have led to this result. Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that hearing aid fitting in Malayalam speakers should focus on providing more gain at low frequencies for better hearing aid benefit. The study needs to be performed on a larger population for better generalization of the results.

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