Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol.  2012 Apr;5(Suppl 1):S82-S88.

Outcome of Vibrant Soundbridge Middle Ear Implant in Cantonese-Speaking Mixed Hearing Loss Adults

• Yu JK
• Tsang WS
• Wong TK
• Tong MC

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the aided benefits, speech recognition in quiet and in noise, change in hearing and subjective report of satisfaction on mixed hearing loss adults implanted with Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) middle ear implant.
METHODS
Eight Cantonese speaking adult patients with mixed hearing loss were enrolled in a single-subject, repeated measures prospective study design. Audiometric testing, including air and bone conduction and word recognition under sound-field were conducted before surgery. Device activation was arranged 8 weeks after operation. Audiometric testing was taken to evaluate the change in hearing. Patients were asked to wear the device and come back for fine tuning as needed. Outcome measurements were undertaken at 3 and 6 months after device activation. The outcome measures included sound-field thresholds, Cantonese Hearing in Noise Test (CHINT), Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) and International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA).
RESULTS
The application of the VSB improved the aided thresholds and improved speech intelligibility in quiet and noise without significant changes in hearing thresholds.
CONCLUSION
VSB is considered as a safe, effective and reliable auditory rehabilitation option for Cantonese speaking adults with mixed hearing loss.

Keyword

Mixed hearing loss; Middle ear implant; Vibrant soundbridge

MeSH Terms

Adult
Bone Conduction
Ear, Middle
Hearing
Hearing Aids
Hearing Loss, Mixed Conductive-Sensorineural
Humans
Noise
Ossicular Prosthesis
Outcome Assessment (Health Care)
Prospective Studies
Speech Intelligibility

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Pre and postoperative bone conduction thresholds of the adults with mixed hearing loss. Triangle, preoperative bone conduction thresholds; circle, postoperative bone conduction thresholds evaluated at 3 months after activation of the implant; square, postoperative bone conduction thresholds evaluated at 6 months after activation of the implant. BC, bone conduction; AC, air conduction.

• 

  Fig. 2 Pre and postoperative sound field thresholds for seven mixed hearing loss patients. Triangle, unaided sound field thresholds; circle, aided sound field thresholds evaluated at 3 months after activation of the implant; square, aided sound field thresholds evaluated at 6 months after activation of the implant. SF, speech front.

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  Fig. 3 CHINT results in noise for the seven mixed hearing loss adults evaluated at unaided, Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) on at 3 months and 6 months intervals after activation of the implant. The smaller the speech reception thresholds (SRT) represented the better speech recognition performance. *The change in SRT in noise between unaided and aided 3 months and aided 6 months condition was statistically significant (P<0.05).

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  Fig. 4 Mean Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) scores and global score in the following subscales: ease of communication (EC), background noise (BN), reverberation (RV), and aversiveness of sound (AV) for unaided, aided with Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) at 3 months and aided with VSB at 6 months.

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  Fig. 5 Mean score obtained with conventional hearing aid, Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) at 3 months and VSB at 6 months for each International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) item. Use, hearing aid usage; Ben, benefit; Sat, satisfaction; RAL, residual activity limitation; Ioth, impact on others; QoL, quality of life.

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