Benefits of bone conduction hearing aid in children with unilateral aural atresia

Objective. To assess the hearing benefit with a unilateral bone conduction hearing aid in a cohort of children with unilateral aural atresia.Methods. Cross-sectional case series pilot study involving 7 children (median age: 10 years, range 6-11). All patients underwent pure-tone, speech, aided sound field and aided speech audiometry and Simplified Italian Matrix Test (SIMT) with and without bone conduction hearing aid (Baha 5 (R) Cochlear (TM)). Cognitive abilities were assessed in 5 patients.Results. The mean air conduction pure-tone average (PTA) of the atretic ear was 63.2 +/- 6.9 dB, while the bone conduction PTA was 12.6 +/- 4.7 dB. Speech discrimination score of the atretic ear was 88.6 +/- 3.8 dB, while with the hearing aid it was 52.8 +/- 1.9 dB. In the contralateral ear, there was no significant air-bone gap, and PTAs for air and bone conduction thresholds were within normal range (PTA <= 25 dB). The mean aided air conduction hearing threshold was 26.2 +/- 7.97. Mean speech recognition threshold without the hearing aid was -5.1 +/- 1.9 dB, and -6.0 +/- 1.7 dB with the hearing aid tested with the SIMT. The mean score of the cognitive test was 46.8 +/- 42.8.Conclusions. These preliminary findings should encourage clinicians in proposing a unilateral bone conduction hearing aid in children with unilateral atresia.