Long-term Outcome of Sound Localization with Baha ® Attract System.

BACKGROUND

Spatial hearing is a critical feature in daily life. However, there is quite a range in hearing loss patients regarding the effect of bone conduction device on localization performance.

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the localization performance in patients with bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss fitted with one Baha® Attract system.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This prospective study included 12 patients who had followed up for more than one year. The parameters analyzed included (1) audiological results: sound field threshold, speech discrimination scores (SDSs), and sound localization test, and (2) functional results: scores for the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) and the Chinese translation of the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (C-SHQ).

RESULTS

The audiological assessments showed a reduction of 28.5 dB in the mean sound field thresholds and improvements of 61.7% in the SDSs for disyllabic words. The root mean square error improved slightly with the Baha® Attract system. Patients showed promising results in the functional questionnaire assessments, with significant improvements in the SSQ and C-SHQ scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Although most patients were not able to localize sound accurately after surgery, the change in the scores of the SSQ and C-SHQ indicated that the Baha® Attract system could improve spatial hearing.