title: [Efficacy of BAHA softband in young children with bilateral congenital aural atresia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To retrospectively analyze the auditory and speech development of young children with bilateral congenital aural atresia after using bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) softband.
  
  
  METHODS
  From August 2010 to January 2013, a total of 12 patients aged at a range of 3 months to 6 years with bilateral aural atresia using BAHA softband were divided into under 4-year-old group (n = 7, an average age of 14 months) and over 4-year-old group (n = 5, an average age of 77 months). The air and bone auditory thresholds of the under 4-year-old group were assessed by auditory brainstem response (ABR). The Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) was used to evaluate early auditory development.Soundfield pure tone audiometry (PTA) was applied in the over 4-year-old group. The Standard Chinese lexical neighborhood test (LNT) was conducted to evaluate the speech discrimination scores unaided and aided for 6, 12 and 24 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the under 4-year-old group, the unaided air and bone conduction hearing thresholds were 70-90(73 ± 12) and 15-25(21 ± 4) dB nHL respectively.IT-MAIS score improved significantly after using softband for 6 months in comparisons with unaided situations. The average hearing threshold of patients in the over 4-year-old group was (63 ± 6) dB HL unaided versus (31 ± 4)dB HL aided. The average decline in pure-tone threshold was (32 ± 3)dB HL with BAHA softbands and LNT demonstrated improvements in the speech discrimination score. The differences of paired comparison were significant (all P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The hearing ability of children with bilateral congenital aural atresia improves significantly after using BAHA softband. And its application at a young age can guarantee a relatively normal hearing development and avoid oral communication impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Yibei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China. Email: chenxw_pumch@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001309:Auditory Threshold; D001844:Bone Conduction; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004423:Ear / Q000002:abnormalities*; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000002:abnormalities*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests