title: Vibrant Soundbridge middle ear implantations: experience at National University Hospital Singapore.
abstract: Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) has been recommended for both adults and children with all types of hearing loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate the objective and subjective benefits with VSB and the difference in benefits for patients with different types of hearing loss. A retrospective case review was conducted on seven consecutive patients who had received VSB implantations at the National University Hospital of Singapore from March 2006 to November 2009. Patients were divided into the Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) Group and Conductive Hearing Loss (CHL)/Mixed Hearing Loss (MHL) Group. Surgical complications were evaluated, and objective and subjective results were compared between the two groups. No major complications were observed during the follow-up of up to 4 years. Greater objective and subjective benefits were observed in the CHL/MHL Group. Subjective benefits were consistent with objective improvements. Pre-operative counseling for realistic expectations is important, especially for patients with SNHL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. entlhyl@nus.edu.sg
authors.forename: Lynne Hsueh Yee
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jocelynne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Del Prado
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Abdul Rahman Bin
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Yusof
authors.forename: Jenny Hooi Yin
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Loo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000601:surgery*; D046089:Hearing Loss, Mixed Conductive-Sensorineural / Q000601:surgery*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009998:Ossicular Prosthesis; D019933:Ossicular Replacement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome