Audiologic limitations of Vibrant Soundbridge device: Is the contralateral hearing aid fitting indispensable?

Supplementary Effect of Choline Alfoscerate on Speech Recognition in Patients With Age-Related Hearing Loss: A Prospective Study in 34 Patients (57 Ears)

To investigate the effect of choline alfoscerate (CA) on hearing amplification in patients with age related hearing loss, we performed a prospective case-control observational study from March 2016 to September 2020. We assessed patients with bilateral word recognition score (WRS) <50% using monosyllabic words. The patients were 65-85 years old, without any history of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, parkinsonism, or depression. After enrollment, all patients started using hearing aids (HA). The CA group received a daily dose of 800 mg CA for 11 months. We performed between-group comparisons of audiological data, including pure tone audiometry, WRS, HA fitting data obtained using real-ear measurement (REM), and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid benefit scores after treatment. After CA administration, the WRS improved significantly in the CA group (4.2 ± 8.3%), but deteriorated in the control group (-0.6 ± 8.1%, p = 0.035). However, there was no significant between-group difference in the change in pure tone thresholds and aided speech intelligibility index calculated from REM. These findings suggest that the difference in WRS was relevant to central speech understanding rather than peripheral audibility. Therefore, administering oral CA could effectively enrich listening comprehension in older HA users.

Long-term Outcomes of Clip Coupler Implantation in Patients with Unilateral Congenital Aural Atresia

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of the Clip coupler attached to the stapes head in patients with unilateral congenital aural atresia (CAA).

METHODS

This single-center retrospective study included 16 Mandarin-speaking patients who had unilateral microtia accompanied by CAA. All patients were divided into two groups: the short-term follow-up group (n = 9) and the long-term follow-up group (n = 7). The floating mass transducer of the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) was positioned in the stapes head by the Clip coupler. The safety of the VSB was investigated by comparing preoperative and postoperative bone-conduction (BC) thresholds as well as by complications. The effectiveness was evaluated by functional gain (FG), word recognition score (WRS), speech reception threshold (SRT) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

RESULTS

Pre- and post-operative BC thresholds were no different in all patients. And no complications developed. VSB-aided thresholds in the free-field had improved significantly in both short- and long-term follow-up groups. The improvements of WRS were observed in two groups. The monosyllabic VSB-aided WRS in the long-term follow-up group was significantly higher than that in the short-term follow-up group. When speech was from the impaired ear and noise presented to the side of normal ear (S_VSBN_CL), lower SNRs were found in two groups after VSB implantation. However, there was no statistical difference in aided SNR between the two groups at S_VSBN_CL status.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that the FMT connected to the stapes head is a secure and useful device for patients with unilateral CHL/MHL, not only in terms of improved hearing thresholds, but also improved speech intelligibility in quiet and noisy environments.