Analysis of Factors Predicting the Success of the Bone Conduction Device Headband Trial in Patients With Single-Sided Deafness

Abstract

For several years, bone conduction devices (BCDs), including both the Cochlear Ltd bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) and, more recently, the Oticon Medical devices (Ponto) have been used as contralateral routing of sound (CROS) devices. A group of patients who benefit from this rehabilitation have unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, commonly known as single-sided deafness (SSD). Quiz Ref IDThe BCD CROS achieves significant improvement concerning some problems caused by the head shadow effect, which plays a substantial role in the hearing impairment of patients with SSD.1,2 Subjective benefit analysis by means of the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB)3 shows a significant improvement in the ease of communication, conversation in background noise, and conversations with reverberation.4-6 However, it remains difficult to predict which patients with SSD will benefit from BCD CROS treatment. All patients receiving the standard workup for BCD CROS treatment have the opportunity to try a BCD headband to help them decide whether to proceed to BCD surgery. According to studies by Andersen et al7 and Schrøder et al,8 only 20% to 25% of the patients with SSD caused by acoustic neuroma surgery opt for a percutaneous BCD CROS. Quiz Ref IDDesmet et al9 evaluated 196 patients with SSD for several factors (Fletcher index of ipsilateral and contralateral ear, bone conduction threshold [0.5, 1, and 2 kHz], etiology, age, and duration of deafness) to determine their influence on the decision of a patient to opt for a BCD or not. Eighty-seven patients (44%) opted for a BCD, but no statistically significant factors were found. Kompis et al10 also searched for predicting factors such as age, sex, transcranial attenuation, and duration of deafness in 46 patients with SSD. The decision of the 29 patients who opted for a BCD (63%) was based on subjective factors.