Unilateral and Bilateral Audiological Benefit With an Adhesively Attached, Noninvasive Bone Conduction Hearing System.

Gawliczek, Tom; Munzinger, Fabio; Anschütz, Lukas Peter; Caversaccio, Marco; Kompis, Martin; Wimmer, Wilhelm (2018). Unilateral and Bilateral Audiological Benefit With an Adhesively Attached, Noninvasive Bone Conduction Hearing System. Otology & neurotology, 39(8), pp. 1025-1030. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 10.1097/MAO.0000000000001924

Text Gawliczek et al. - 2018 - Adhear.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (356kB)

OBJECTIVE

To assess the audiological benefit of a noninvasive, adhesively attached bone conduction device (BCD1) in subjects with induced bilateral conductive hearing loss. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the additional benefit of bilateral fitting compared with unilateral fitting and to compare the outcomes with bone conduction devices attached to a softband (BCD2).

STUDY DESIGN

Prospective nonrandomized crossover study.

SETTING

Tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS

Fifteen subjects with induced bilateral conductive hearing loss.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Sound field thresholds, speech understanding in quiet and in multinoise were assessed in unaided, unilateral, and bilateral treatment conditions. In addition, sound localization was evaluated in uni- and bilateral treatment conditions.

RESULTS

The outcomes of BCD1 and BCD2 were comparable. Sound field thresholds improved by 24.6 dB (BCD1) and 24.8 dB (BCD2) in the unilateral and 26.8 dB (BCD1) and 25.1 dB (BCD2) in the bilateral treatment condition. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in quiet improved by 20.0 dB (BCD1) and 21.7 dB (BCD2) in the unilateral and by 22.7 dB (BCD1) and 21.5 dB (BCD2) in the bilateral condition. If speech was presented from the front, SRTs in noise were improved by 3.6 dB and 4.2 dB (unilateral) and by 4.5 dB and 4.4 dB (bilateral) for BCD1 and BCD2, respectively. With speech presented from the unilateral side, SRTs were improved by 4.0 dB and 4.7 dB (unilateral) and 3.8 dB and 4.8 dB (bilateral) compared with the unaided situation. If noise was presented from the contralateral side, small differences (-0.6 dB and -0.1 dB) were observed. Bilateral fitting brought additional benefits for speech understanding in noise and sound localization.

CONCLUSIONS

Both bone conduction devices seem to be a valid treatment for patients with conductive hearing loss and minor sensorineural hearing loss component.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

6 since deposited on 20 Jul 2018
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item