A committee session on Monday was dedicated to National Hearing Day, which will be marked on Tuesday with seminars, hearing checks at 30 locations, phone information lines and a new Web site for the hearing disabled (www.hearing.org.il).

Hearing disabilities occur in one to 1.2 babies born per 1,000 each year, according to the Health Ministry, as well as in one in three people over 65.

Representatives of patient groups told the committee that hearing aids cost between NIS 3,000 and NIS 9,900.

The Health Ministry covers NIS 625 of the cost of a hearing aid for adults and NIS 3,500 for children up to age 18 (with help from the National Insurance Institute and the Social Affairs Ministry).

The health funds cover part of the additional cost of members who hold their supplementary health insurance policies.

But this, they said, was not enough.

Ahiya Kamara, chairman of the voluntary organization Bekol, said that many hearing disabled people are ashamed of their problem.

About 10,000 lip read, but unlike people who have to wear glasses, many deaf people are ashamed to wear hearing aids.

In Denmark, 70,000 such devices are sold each year, but in Israel, the number is minimal.

Rahel Zohar of the voluntary organization Micha said that children up to the age of three not suited to cochlear implants get only half of the cost of hearing aids paid for by the government.

The many parents who cannot afford the rest of the cost receive digital devices on loan from Micha, which raises money for them via donations, but when none are available, young deaf children have to wait in a queue at the most critical age for development, she said.

Yahalom called on the Health Ministry to do more, and asked the voluntary organizations to provide data on how much money was required to subsidize hearing aids for the most needy sectors in the population.