Bone-anchored hearing aid: quality of life assess by glasgow benefit inventory

INTRODUCTION: The bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) uses the system of osseointegration described by Branemark. It is a well-established mode of treatment and many studies show the audiological benefit, but none have assessed the benefit to the quality of life of patients who underwent this surgical intervention. This study uses the validated Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) to quantify the changes in quality of life. The GBI is a specific patient-orientated questionnaire designed to look at the changes in health status secondary to an ORL intervention.1 The GBI gives an overll scorek, but also subscores of general, social and physical benefits. METHOD: Sixty consecutive BAHA patients were enrolled in the study. The male: female ratio was 1 : 26, with a mean age of 45 years. The most common indication was hearing loss secondary to mastoid disease/surgery followed by congenital atresia and chronically discharging ear. The mean bone conduction of the better ear was 19 dB and the mean conductive loss across the speech frequencies was 58 dB. Only patients who were fitted with the classic model were included in the study. RESULTS: The response rate was > 70%, which is high and adds weight to the results. The general benefit score was + 40 which is comparable to middle ear surgery, but just below benefit from chochlear implantation. The social benefit was + 27 with only + 10 for the physical score. This pattern mirrors that reported for other ear interventions. CONCLUSION: This paper is the first to demonstrate that there is significant quality of life benefit from BAHA surgical intervention as measured by the GBI.