METHODS: Six children were recruited and underwent Bonebridge transcutaneous bone conduction implant surgery. The patients' audiometric thresholds for air conduction, bone conduction and sound-field tests were assessed pre-operatively and at six months post-operatively. Patients' satisfaction was assessed at six months post-operatively with the Hearing Device Satisfaction Scale.
RESULTS: No major complications were reported. Mean aided sound-field thresholds improved post-operatively by more than 30 dB for 0.5-4 kHz (p 0.05). All patients were satisfied (scores were over 90 per cent) with the implant in terms of functional outcome and cosmetic appearance.
CONCLUSION: Bonebridge transcutaneous bone conduction implant surgery is safe and effective among children with congenital aural atresia with conductive hearing loss.
DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study.
STUDY SAMPLE: 1068 subjects issued with HAs at a tertiary hospital from 2001 to 2013.
RESULTS: Half of the subjects presented with more severe (>55 dB) hearing loss (HL) in their better ear. In multivariable analysis, older age, Malay ethnicity, conductive and mixed HL, and combination type of HL were associated with more severe HL at first presentation. Over 70% of subjects were older than 65 years. Worse pure tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds of the better ear, gradual onset and sensorineural HL were associated with older age presentation. For unilaterally fitted subjects, PTA thresholds were the only determinant of having the better ear aided. Better PTA thresholds, younger age and sensorineural HL were associated with choosing in ear compared to behind the ear HAs. Younger age and worse PTA of the better ear were associated with ≥4 h of daily HA usage.
CONCLUSIONS: Age, ethnicity and type of HL were important determinants for more severe HL at first HA fitting. Older patients and those with better hearing were less likely to use their HAs regularly.
METHODS: A retrospective descriptive cohort study on the audiological findings detected during the first hearing assessment done on a child with craniosynostosis using otoacoustic emissions, pure tone audiometry or auditory brainstem response examination. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the type and severity of hearing loss when compared between syndromic and non-sydromic craniosynostosis, and other associated contributory factors.
RESULTS: A total of 31 patients with 62 ears consisting of 14 male patients and 17 female patients were evaluated. Twenty two patients (71%) were syndromic and 9 (29%) were non-syndromic craniosynostosis. Amongst the syndromic craniosynostosis, 9 (41%) had Apert syndrome, 7 (32%) had Crouzon syndrome, 5 (23%) had Pfieffer syndrome and 1 (4%) had Shaethre Chotzen syndrome. Patients with syndromic craniosynostosis were more likely to present with all types and severity of hearing loss, including severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss while children with non-syndromic craniosynostosis were likely to present with normal hearing (p
METHODS: Speech-and-noise signals were presented to, and recorded from, six hearing aids mounted on a head and torso simulator. Test stimuli were nonsense words mixed with pink, cafeteria, or speech-modulated noise at 0 dB SNR. Fricatives /s, z/ were extracted from the recordings for analysis.
RESULTS: Analysis of the noise confirmed that MBNR in all hearing aids was activated for the recordings. More than 1.0 dB of acoustic change occurred to /s, z/ when MBNR was turned on in four out of the six hearing aids in the pink and cafeteria noise conditions. The acoustics of /s, z/ by female talkers were affected more than male talkers. Significant relationships between amount of noise reduction and acoustic change of /s, z/ were found. Amount of noise reduction accounts for 42.8% and 16.8% of the variability in acoustic change for /s/ and /z/ respectively.
CONCLUSION: Some clinically-available implementations of MBNR have measurable effects on the acoustics of fricatives. Possible implications for speech perception are discussed.
DESIGN: For each participant, the output of the initial hearing aid fitting was compared to DSL v5.0 Child prescriptive targets and again after the fitting was adjusted using coupler-based verification and RECD measures. Outcomes for initial and adjusted fittings were examined using the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII), Parent's Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) rating scale, and speech perception tests in quiet and noise.
STUDY SAMPLE: Sixty-eight children aged 3 months to 17 years with moderate to profound hearing loss participated in the study.
RESULTS: Fit-to-targets improved significantly after hearing aids were adjusted to match targets to within 5 dB RMSE. Adjusted hearing aids provided increased aided audibility compared to initial fittings and resulted in improved speech perception scores and parent-reported hearing performance. Fifty percent of the children aged 6 to 17 years preferred their adjusted fitting compared to 10% who preferred their initial fitting.
CONCLUSIONS: Improvement in fit-to-target to a validated paediatric prescriptive formula using best practice procedures can result in improved auditory outcomes and possible self-reported satisfaction.