Bone-anchored hearing aids in unilateral inner ear deafness.
In nine patients with unilateral deafness and normal hearing in the contralateral ear, measurements of sound localization and speech perception were obtained before intervention, with a conventional contralateral routing of sound (CROS) hearing aid and later with a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) implanted in the deaf ear. Sound localization did not show any differences between the three conditions. Speech perception using short, everyday sentences showed a reduction in the head-shadow effect of 2 dB for both the conventional CROS hearing aid and the BAHA in comparison to the unaided condition. Patients' real-life experiences of the three conditions were evaluated using the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) questionnaire. The results showed a significant benefit with the BAHA in situations involving background noise and reverberation and a reduced aversion to loud sounds in comparison to the unaided and conventional CROS conditions.
Bosman
Arjan J
AJ
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Hol
Myrthe K S
MK
Snik
Ad F M
AF
Mylanus
Emmanuel A M
EA
Cremers
Cor W R J
CW
D001302:Audiometry, Speech / Q000379:methods; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome