Management of Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aids in Pediatric Patients

Forty-nine children who started wearing cartilage conduction hearing aids (CC-HAs) before completing elementary school (17 with bilateral hearing loss and 32 with unilateral hearing loss) were followed-up and examined. The wearing and utilization status of the CC-HA and its progress to date were evaluated. In addition, 33 participants who purchased the CC-HAs were interviewed to assess the wearing effect. Eleven of seventeen children with bilateral hearing loss and 25 of 32 children with unilateral hearing loss continued to use the CC-HAs. In terms of wearing effect, a good wearing effect was reported, even by those with unilateral hearing loss. In cases where it was difficult to wear CC-HAs stably with pasting or ear tips, it was possible to fix them stably using commercially available hair bands and eyeglass vines. In two cases, the CC-HAs were worn from infancy. With ingenuity and appropriate educational and medical support, it is possible to wear CC-HAs from infancy.