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Bone-anchored hearing aids in infants and children younger than 5 years

Taryn Davids1, Karen A Gordon, Doug Clutton

  • 1Department of Otolaryngology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, USA.

Archives of Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery
|January 17, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) can be safely implanted in children younger than 5 years. A prolonged interval between two-stage BAHA implantation stages is effective for younger children, yielding comparable surgical success to older children.

Area of Science:

  • Otolaryngology
  • Pediatric Audiology
  • Hearing Rehabilitation

Background:

  • Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) are indicated for children over 5 with bilateral maximal conductive hearing loss.
  • Early auditory and speech-language development may benefit from earlier BAHA intervention.
  • Surgical outcomes in younger pediatric populations require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the safety and efficacy of BAHA implantation in children younger than 5 years.
  • To compare surgical complication rates and implantation intervals between younger and older pediatric BAHA recipients.
  • To assess the feasibility of adapting BAHA implantation protocols for earlier intervention.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective review of surgical data for 20 children aged 5 years or younger receiving BAHA implants over 10 years.
  • Comparison group of 20 older children (mean age 7.63 years) with BAHA implants.
  • Analysis of traumatic and skin revision complication rates and interstage intervals for two-stage procedures.

Main Results:

  • The mean interstage interval was significantly longer in younger children (7.72 months) compared to older children (4.41 months).
  • Two traumatic fixture losses occurred in younger children versus four in older children.
  • Three younger children required skin site revision; all patients successfully use their BAHAs.

Conclusions:

  • Two-stage BAHA implantation with a prolonged interval is surgically successful in children younger than 5 years.
  • Outcomes in younger pediatric BAHA recipients are comparable to those in older children.
  • Early BAHA intervention is a viable option for improving auditory and speech development in young children.
Abstract

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