[Temporary postoperative care with the bone conduction hearing system ADHEAR© : A prospective study on 76 patients]

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Audiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Ear surgery often results in temporary conductive hearing loss due to surgical packing, impacting patient communication.
• This hearing impairment can persist post-surgery, delaying recovery and communication until follow-up procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the subjective and audiological benefits of temporarily using an adhesive bone conduction hearing aid (ADHEAR©) in patients following ear surgery.
• To assess the efficacy of ADHEAR© in mitigating conductive hearing loss during the post-operative packing period and beyond.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study involving 76 patients fitted with the ADHEAR© system after ear surgery for the duration of ear packing.
• Subjective satisfaction was assessed using a custom questionnaire, while audiological benefit was measured by pre- and post-operative hearing thresholds and speech comprehension in quiet.

Main Results:

• 92% of patients found the hearing aid useful during the packing period, with over 60% reporting natural sound quality.
• Post-packing removal, 66% of patients had an air-bone gap below 10 dB, and average speech discrimination improved by 14%.
• Patients with persistent conductive hearing loss (≥10 dB) experienced an average speech discrimination improvement of 25%.

Conclusions:

• Temporary use of the adhesive hearing aid ADHEAR© provides significant subjective and audiological benefits for patients experiencing conductive hearing loss after ear surgery.
• ADHEAR© can effectively bridge hearing loss during the recovery phase, particularly benefiting patients with persistent conductive hearing loss until their final audiological rehabilitation.