Update on bone-anchored hearing aids in pediatric patients with profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the use of bone-anchored hearing aids (Bahas) in children with single-sided deafness.

DESIGN

Retrospective 3-year chart review.

SETTING

Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, pediatric hospital serving children from birth to 21 years of age.

PATIENTS

The study included 23 children (14 girls and 9 boys) with single-sided deafness (mean age, 12.6 years; age range, 6-19 years).

INTERVENTIONS

Two-stage Baha surgery with 6-month osseointegration was performed on children 5 years and older at a single institution. The Baha processor was placed 2 weeks after the second-stage surgery.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Results of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) and the Children's Home Inventory for Listening Difficulties (CHILD) questionnaires were compared before and after Baha activation in children with profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

RESULTS

Preimplant mean HINT scores at speech-noise ratios of 0, +5, and +10 dB were 42%, 76%, and 95%, respectively. Postimplant mean HINT scores improved to mean speech-noise ratios of 82%, 97%, and 99% at 0, 5, and 10 dB, respectively. The CHILD scores also improved from mean preimplant ratings of 4.49 and 4.60 for patients and parents, respectively, to postimplant ratings of 6.90 and 7.10. Both teenagers (n = 15) and children younger than 13 years (n = 7) demonstrated improved HINT and CHILD scores. The complication rate was 17%.

CONCLUSION

Bone-anchored hearing aids are a durable treatment option that can achieve noticeable improvements in hearing in noise and in listening difficulties in children with profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss.