ABSTRACT
Objective : To determine the characteristics of sound localisation in children with unilateral microtia and atresia (UMA) when unaided and aided with a non-surgical bone conduction device (BCD).
Design:Retrospective data analysis.
Setting : Tertiary referral centre.
Participants: Eleven children with UMA and 11 age-matched children with NH as control.
Intervention: A non-surgical BCD.
Main outcomes and measures:The sound field hearing threshold, word recognition score (WRS), speech reception threshold, subjective questionnaire of the international outcome inventory for hearing aids, and sound localisation tests.
Results : The average unaided WRS and speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) for all UMA patients was 18.27 ± 14.63 % and -5 ± 1.18 dB sound pressure level (SPL), while the average aided WRS and SNR conspicuously changed to 85.45 ± 7.38 % and -7.73 ± 1.42 dB SPL, respectively. Compared with the stimulated UHL, some children with UMA were able to detect sound sources and this sound localisation ability did not deteriorate with a BCD.
Conclusions : For children with UMA, the non-surgical BCD provided a definite benefit on speech recognition and high participant satisfaction without deteriorating their sound localisation abilities. It is an efficient and safe solution for the early hearing intervention of these patients.