Bone-anchored hearing aids help reduce deafness

WASHINGTON - Surgically implanted hearing aids, anchored to the skull bone, noticeably improves hearing among children with deafness in one ear, says a new report.

Single-sided deafness affects between 0.1 percent and 3 percent children, says the report.

The condition is often associated with poor performance in school, learning difficulties and behavioural problems, often attributed to the children’s inability to perform well in noisy conditions.

Traditional, external hearing aids may improve comprehension and performance, but compliance is typically low, especially outside the classroom.

“Thus, treatment options for profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (single ear deafness) in children are limited, thereby creating a source of frustration and a need for alternative treatments,” the study authors write.

“In an effort to provide a durable treatment option, the bone-anchored hearing aid has been explored for use in children with single-sided deafness,” write Lisa Christensen of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock, and colleagues.

The researchers reviewed the charts of children and teenagers with single-sided deafness who received bone-anchored hearing aids over a three-year period.

Each surgery was performed in two stages with at least six months in between and patients were fitted with one of two types of bone-anchored hearing aid processors two weeks after the second stage.

Hearing tests were conducted and each patient and a parent or guardian were asked to complete a questionnaire about listening difficulties before and after the fitting.

Scores on both hearing tests and questionnaires improved significantly following surgery. Both children and teens demonstrated improvements in hearing.

The complication rate was 17 percent, with complications being more common in teenagers and including skin reactions and lost fixtures, said an Arkansas Children’s Hospital release.

“These findings are helpful in counselling children five years and older and their families regarding treatment options for single-sided deafness,” they conclude.

These findings were published in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.