The bone-anchored hearing aid compared with conventional hearing aids. Audiologic results and the patients' opinions.

The bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) was evaluated in 65 patients by comparing speech recognition and questionnaire results with those obtained with the patients' own previous hearing aids. In the majority of patients who previously used a conventional bone conductor, significantly improved speech recognition scores were found with the BAHA. The majority preferred the BAHA to their previous bone conductors. For the patients who previously used air conduction hearing aids but had to stop because of chronic draining ears, the results were ambiguous. Nevertheless, the BAHA seems to be the best solution for this subgroup as well. It is concluded that the BAHA is a valuable addition to the audiologists' tools.