Speech recognition in patients after successful surgery for unilateral congenital ear anomalies

Abstract

It is generally assumed that auditory stimulation since birth is important for the proper development of the central auditory nervous system. Whether auditory deprivation occurs in man and, therefore, whether it may be considered as a contraindication to surgery in unilateral congenital middle ear anomalies and atresias is the subject of the present study. Speech recognition during both monaural and binaural presentation was studied in patients who had successful surgery for a unilateral congenital ear anomaly. In binaural speech recognition tests, the average results of the patient group (N = 13) and a group of subjects with normal hearing proved to be comparable. The average speech recognition score using monaurally presented band-pass filtered speech was 84% +/- 8% and 77% +/- 10% for the unoperated (normal) and operated ears, respectively (statistically significant). Speech-to-noise ratios of -5.6 +/- 0.7 dB and -3.9 +/- 1.6 db were found in the normal and operated ears, respectively (statistically significant). It is concluded that, in general, the speech recognition scores of the operated ears were satisfactory, but poorer than those of the normal ears.

Audiological evaluation and self-assessed hearing problems in subjects with single-sided congenital external ear malformations and associated conductive hearing loss

“…If a deprivation of the central auditory system is present, it might jeopardize any positive treatment effect if it is not reversible, due to plasticity in the system. A previous study on the outcomes of surgical reconstruction on unilateral external ear malformations in terms of speech recognition ability suggested a sufficient but poorer function in the operated ear compared to the normal ear post-operatively (Snik et al, 1994).…”

The BAHA Softband

“…In contrast with the fitting of hearing aids to subjects with sensorineural hearing loss, little has been published on fitting bone-conduction devices to children with conductive hearing loss [20]. It has been suggested that aided thresholds of around 20 dBHL should be adequate for subjects with pure conductive hearing loss [20].…”

“…It has been suggested that aided thresholds of around 20 dBHL should be adequate for subjects with pure conductive hearing loss [20]. Fig.…”

Does the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid Have a Complementary Effect on Audiological and Subjective Outcomes in Patients with Unilateral Conductive Hearing Loss?

“…Aided thresholds were measured with warble tones in the sound fi eld, as described elsewhere [Snik et al, 2002[Snik et al, , 1994. During these measurements, the normal ear was blocked with an earplug and earmuff, which led to attenuation of approximately 40 dB [Snik et al, 2002].…”