Speech Recognition with the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid Determined Objectively and Subjectively

Some patients with a bone-conduction hearing aid experience serious problems such as skin irritation or headaches and inconsistency in the sound quality due to shifting of the transducer over the mastoid. The Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) provides direct bone-conduction and therefore evades these problems. Results of 58 patients fitted with either the head level BAHA HC200 or the more powerful HC220 were available for evaluation. Speech recognition-in-quiet and in-noise tests were performed in order to make a comparison between the patients’ performance with their individually adapted BAHA and their previous hearing aid. Furthermore, all the patients filled out a questionnaire, involving questions on speech recognition-in-quiet and in-noisy surroundings. Individual comparisons of the audiological and questionnaire results in the subgroup of patients who had used a bone-conduction hearing aid showed that the results with the BAHA were comparable with or significantly better than those with the previous bone-conduction hearing aid. The results in the patients who had previously used an air-conduction hearing aid were ambiguous. </jats:p

Multicenter Clinical Investigation of a New Active Osseointegrated Steady-State Implant System

OBJECTIVE: A new active transcutaneous bone conduction hearing implant system that uses piezoelectric technology has been developed: an active osseointegrated steady-state implant system (OSI). This was the first clinical investigation undertaken to demonstrate clinical performance, safety, and benefit of the new implant system. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A multicenter prospective within-subject clinical investigation was conducted. PATIENTS: Fifty-one adult subjects with mixed and conductive hearing loss (MHL/CHL, n = 37) and single-sided sensorineural deafness (SSD, n = 14) were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Audiological evaluations included audiometric thresholds, speech recognition in noise, and quiet. Hearing and health-related patient-reported outcomes (PROs; health utilities index [HUI], abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit [APHAB], and speech, spatial of qualities of hearing scale [SSQ]), daily use, surgical and safety parameters were collected. RESULTS: Intra- and postoperative complications were few. One implant was removed before activation due to post-surgical infection. Compared with the preoperative softband tests, a significant improvement in speech recognition-in-noise was observed in the MHL/CHL group (-7.3 dB, p ≤ 0.0001) and the SSD group (-8.1 dB, p = 0.0008). In quiet, word recognition improved in the MHL/CHL group, most markedly at lower intensity input of 50 dB SPL (26.7%, p ≤ 0.0001). The results of all PROs showed a significant improvement with the new device compared with preoperative softband in the MHL/CHL group. In the SSD group significant improvements were observed in the APHAB and SSQ questionnaires. DISCUSSION: The results confirmed the clinical safety, performance, and benefit of this new treatment modality for subjects with CHL, MHL, and SSD

Does the bone-anchored hearing aid have a complementary effect on audiological and subjective outcomes in patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss?

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVES: To study the effect of a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) in patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective evaluation on 18 subjects. METHODS: Aided and unaided binaural hearing was assessed in the sound field using a sound localization test and a speech recognition in noise test with spatially separated sound and noise sources. The patients also filled out a disability-specific questionnaire. PATIENTS: 13 out of the 18 subjects had normal hearing on one side and acquired conductive hearing loss in the other ear. The remaining 5 patients had a unilateral air-bone gap and mild symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. RESULTS: Sound localization with the BAHA improved significantly. Speech recognition in noise with spatially separated speech and noise sources also improved with the BAHA. Fitting a BAHA to patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss had a complementary effect on hearing. Questionnaire results showed that the BAHA was of obvious benefit in daily life. CONCLUSIONS: The BAHA proved to be a beneficial means to optimize binaural hearing in patients with severe (40-60 dB) unilateral conductive hearing loss according to audiometric data and patient outcome measures