title: Bone-anchored hearing aids in patients with sensorineural hearing loss and persistent otitis externa.
abstract: Recently, a new bone-conduction hearing aid has become available which can be connected percutaneously to the skull: the bone-anchored hearing aid or BAHA. Several clinical trials have shown its efficacy in patients with a conductive or mixed hearing loss. A second group of potential candidates are patients who suffer from an almost instantaneous skin reaction to any kind of earmould. Three such patients with a predominant sensorineural hearing loss were fitted with a BAHA. The aided free-field thresholds proved to be poor compared with the desired values using prescriptive rules. Speech recognition measured objectively (with tests) and subjectively (with a questionnaire) was comparable or better than with conventional bone-conduction hearing aids. Two patients were using their BAHA all day, whereas the third patient was only using it for a few hours per day. Although it did not produce optimal results, the BAHA seems to be the best solution for these patients.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Nijmegen. The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Snik
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mylanus
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Cremers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001844:Bone Conduction; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006316:Hearing Loss, High-Frequency / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test