Management of single-sided deafness with the bone-anchored hearing aid.
OBJECTIVE
The benefits of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) for rehabilitation of conductive and mixed hearing loss are well established. Recently, the BAHA was used to rehabilitate patients with single-sided deafness (SSD). In this study, the benefits of the BAHA in SSD are presented.


METHODS
Case series with planned data collection.


METHODS
Tertiary referral center.


METHODS
Twenty-one consecutive adult patients with SSD underwent single-stage BAHA implantation on the side of deafness. Testing in sound field was performed using the hearing-in-noise test (HINT) in both unaided and aided conditions. Speech and noise signals were delivered through two speakers oriented in two test paradigms. The outcomes were expressed as signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. Subjective benefit analyses were determined through two questionnaires: the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) and the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile (GHABP).


RESULTS
All subjects demonstrated significant improvement in speech reception thresholds with the HINT using the BAHA, especially with the 90/270 speaker paradigm, in which the mean improvement over the unaided condition was 5.5 dB SPL (range, 2.0-11.0 dB; P=0.00001). Qualitative subjective outcome measures demonstrated additional benefits.


CONCLUSIONS
In SSD patients, the BAHA provides significant subjective benefits and improves speech understanding in noise.
Yuen
Heng-Wai
HW
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Bodmer
Daniel
D
Smilsky
Kari
K
Nedzelski
Julian M
JM
Chen
Joseph M
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D013067:Speech Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome