In the operating theatres of Delhi, Dr. Jitendra Mohan Hans (J.M. Hans) became known as the surgeon who restored hearing and voice to thousands. Born on 27 November 1955 in New Delhi, he graduated in medicine from the University of Meerut in 1978, earned a Diploma in Otorhinolaryngology from the University of Delhi, and completed his MS in ENT as a gold medallist at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.

Specialising in ear, nose and throat surgery, he focused particularly on hearing restoration and voice rehabilitation. He invented the Hans Speech Valve, a device that helps patients speak again after laryngeal cancer surgery. More significantly, he pioneered minimally invasive techniques for cochlear implantation in India—the VERIA technique—and has performed more than 3,000 such surgeries, among the highest volumes in Asia. He was also the first ENT surgeon in the country to perform auditory brainstem implants in children.

“Hearing is not just sound,” he has often told young surgeons and anxious parents. “It is connection—to family, to learning, to life itself.” A founder member of the Cochlear Implant Group of India, he contributed to the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s project that developed an indigenous bionic ear. He served as Professor and Head of ENT at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, and as Honorary ENT Surgeon to the Prime Minister of India. He has advised the World Health Organization, the Union Public Service Commission, and national programmes for the prevention and control of deafness, and holds positions at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, and the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped.

In recognition of his contributions to medicine, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2005. From a gold-medallist postgraduate to a pioneer who brought advanced hearing technology within reach of Indian patients, Jitendra Mohan Hans’s career remains a story of technical innovation, surgical skill and a deep commitment to restoring the gift of sound.