A joint auditory and verbal training and research center — the first of its kind on the mainland — was established at Xinhua Hospital yesterday to provide long-term rehabilitation for children and adults with hearing disorders.

The aim is to help them to better integrate into normal social life and schools. China has an acute shortage of professional therapists and the center will train more of them.

Set up by Xinhua Hospital and the University of Ottawa, the center will introduce a “one-stand intervention, treatment and rehabilitation system” from Canada to Xinhua.