Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2013 Jul;56(7):418-424. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2013.56.7.418.

Subjective and Audiologic Results of Bone Anchored Hearing Aids (BAHA)

• Rhee J
• Chung J
• Kim SH
• Seo MW
• Koo JW
• Lee JH
• Oh SH
• Chang SO

• KMID: 2277780
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2013.56.7.418

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
This study aims to evaluate audiologic results and subjective satisfaction of bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) patients.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Preoperative air-conduction and bone-conduction thresholds, postoperative aided thresholds were measured for 14 patients. To evaluate patient satisfaction, two questionnaires derived from single sided deafness (SSD) questionnaire and Bern Benefit in SSD questionnaire were used.
RESULTS
The mean age of patients, consisting of 8 males and 6 females, was 40.0+/-5.9 year. Ten patients (71%) received implantations for conductive or mixed hearing loss and 4 (29%) for SSD. The mean follow-up period was 27.8+/-5.6 months. The mean preoperative bone-conduction threshold of conductive or mixed hearing loss group was 21.4 dB and the mean air-conduction threshold was 65.4 dB. The mean bone-conduction threshold of SSD group was 60.0 dB and the mean air-conduction threshold was 105.9 dB. The postoperative aided threshold was significantly improved in conductive or mixed hearing loss group (p=0.005). The patients in the conductive or mixed hearing loss group showed more satisfaction with BAHA than those in the SSD group did, but the degree of satisfaction was not statistically significant (p=0.08 for questionnaire 1, p=0.12 for questionnaire 2). Patients with better preoperative bone-conduction threshold and patients with better preoperative speech discrimination score showed more satisfaction with BAHA in the questionnaire 1 (p=0.045, p=0.036).
CONCLUSION
BAHA can be considered effective and beneficial for patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss and SSD. Further studies will be needed to choose the appropriate indications for BAHA, especially in SSD group in Korea.

Keyword

Bone conduction; Conductive hearing loss; Hearing aids

MeSH Terms

Bone Conduction
Deafness
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Hearing
Hearing Aids
Hearing Loss, Conductive
Hearing Loss, Mixed Conductive-Sensorineural
Humans
Korea
Male
Patient Satisfaction
Surveys and Questionnaires
Silver Sulfadiazine
Speech Perception
Suture Anchors
Silver Sulfadiazine