Bone-conduction hearing aids in an elderly population: complications and quality of life assessment

Introduction: Nowadays, there are many options to treat hearing-impaired patients: tympanoplastic surgery, hearing aids and a wide range of implantable devices. Objective: The aim of this study is to present the mid-term audiological and quality of life benefits after the implantation of the Osia®, a new active piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implant. Material and methods: The state of the tissues in implanted area, as well as audiological and quality of life results were analyzed six, nine and twelve months after implantation in a group of four adult patients with bilateral mixed hearing loss. Results: In all the cases, no postoperative complications were found. One year after surgery the mean audiological gain in FF PTA4 (pure tone average for 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) was 52.2±3.5 dB in comparison to the unaided situation, the mean speech understanding with Osia® in quiet was 90±8.2% for 50dB SPL, 98.8±2.5% for 65dB SPL and 100±0% for 80dB SPL, and mean speech understanding with Osia® in noise was 37.5%±23.6 for 50dB SPL, 93.8±4.8% for 65dB SPL and 98.8±2.5% for 80dB SPL. There was also an evident improvement in the quality of hearing as well as in the quality of life, measured by the APHAB (Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit) and the SSQ (Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale). Conclusions: The Osia® is an effective treatment option for patients with bilateral mixed hearing loss. The mid-term audiological and quality of life results are excellent, but further observations including bigger groups of patients and a longer follow-up are required.

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Effects of SoundBite Bone Conduction Hearing Aids on Speech Recognition and Quality of Life in Patients with Single-Sided Deafness

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2020/4106949 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Qiong Luo ◽

Ying Shen ◽

Ting Chen ◽

Zhong Zheng ◽

Haibo Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Speech Recognition ◽

Hearing Aids ◽

Bone Conduction ◽

Hearing Threshold ◽

Pure Tone Audiometry ◽

Percentage Points ◽

Bone Conduction Hearing ◽

Single Sided Deafness

Objectives. To analyze the clinical application of SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids by assessing the improvement of speech recognition and the scores of the benefit scale questionnaire for patients with single-sided deafness (SSD). Design. Nine patients aged 24 to 61 years with SSD for more than 3 months were enrolled in this study. The patients could understand and repeat Mandarin and have good compliance with the study. The measurements were evaluated before and after one month of wearing hearing aids using the pure tone audiometry threshold, speech recognition in quiet and in noise, and the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) benefit scale score. Results. Pure tone audiometry results showed that the average hearing threshold of good ears and bad ears was 11.4±2.6 dB HL and 89.9±6.4 dB HL, respectively. The average hearing threshold of bad ears after wearing hearing aids was 23.5±9.0 dB HL. Statistical analysis showed that the hearing improvement for the bad ears after wearing hearing aids was significant. The speech audiometry results showed that the disyllable word recognition score of the bad ears in quiet increased significantly at 50 dB SPL by 40±12 percentage points and at 65 dB SPL by 71±15 percentage points. As for the speech recognition in noise, when the signal sound came from the bad ear side and the noise from the good ear side (SSSDNAH), the speech recognition score (SRS) significantly increased by 17±6 and 9±4 at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of -2 dB and -5 dB, respectively, after wearing the hearing aids. When the signal sound came from the front of the patient and the noise from the bad ear side (S0NSSD), the SRS scores were reduced by 5±5 and 7±5 percentage points at SNR equal to -2 dB and -5 dB, which was significantly different from that before wearing the hearing aids. When the signal and noise both came from the front of the patients (S0N0), the SRS was not significantly increased by 5±4 percentage points at SNR equal to -2 dB compared to before wearing hearing aids. However, the SRS was significantly increased by 5±2 percentage points at SNR equal to -5 dB compared to before wearing hearing aids. The average total GBI score was 31±12 for the nine patients, with an average score of 32±10, 31±8, and 30±7 for general conditions, social support, and physical health, respectively. The results of the questionnaires showed that patients’ quality of life was improved after wearing SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids. Conclusions. SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids are a good choice for patients with SSD, as it could improve the speech recognition ability of patients both in a quiet and noisy environment and improves the quality of life after wearing hearing aids.

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