Bone-anchored hearing aids in children and young adults: the Freeman Hospital experience

Abstract

The use of bone-anchored hearing aids and Softband results in significant improvements in quality of life for children and young adults with hearing impairment. There is significant under-utilisation of bone-anchored hearing aids in children with skull and congenital abnormalities, and we would advocate bone-anchored hearing aid implantation for these patients.

Bone anchored hearing aids in children: An update

“…Christensen et al reviewed 23 children (age range [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] that had a BAHD for single sided deafness [8]. They assessed outcome using two questionnaires -Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) and Children's Home Inventory for Listening Difficulties (CHILD).…”

“…However, the age of implantation continues to cause debate -there is no currently accepted clinical consensus for a minimal age for surgery [15]. Traditionally, emphasis was placed at implanting when a child was old enough to have adequate skull thickness.…”

“…Single stage BAHD surgery has been reported in children as young as 3 years old [15,[21][22][23] and the benefit of a sleeper fixture has been questioned in view of refinements in implant design which have reduced the chances of osseointegration failure [24]. The Nijmegan group with experience of a 1000 children who underwent BAHD surgery found that those children over the age of 10 years were most suitable for single stage surgery [Personal communication, Professor Cremers Sept 2011].…”

The current practice trends in pediatric bone-anchored hearing aids in Canada: A national clinical and surgical practice survey

“…Such a system allows for sound to be transmitted directly to the cochlea through the cranium, circumventing any external or middle ear anomaly or pathology. Numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of the BAHA system, or a very similar system from Oticon Medical (Askim, Sweden), the Ponto®, in terms of audiological outcome, aesthetics, and health-related quality of life [2-6]. …”

“…Originally, their use was limited to those with chronic otitis media [7], yet with time the indications have grown to encompass numerous conditions, including congenital ear anomalies, chronic otitis externa or media, and single-sided deafness [2-4,6-10]. Along with the escalation in indications, there has been a divergence in the clinical and operative practices of otolaryngologists who perform pediatric BAHA surgeries.…”