[The efficacy of bone conduction device intervention on speech recognition in noise for single-sided deafness in...

Objective:To evaluate the intervention effect and influencing factors of non-implantable bone conduction devices（BCD） in patients with single-sided deafness（SSD） under the S₀N₀condition. Methods:A total of 32 SSD patients were included. Pure tone audiometry, the Chinese translation of the Twelve-item version of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale（C-SSQ12）, the Digit Span Test（DST）, and multi-dimensional speech-in-noise recognition tests were used to evaluate the intervention effect of BCD under the S₀N₀condition. The influences of test materials, signal-to-noise ratio（SNR）, subjective auditory ability, and cognitive function on the intervention effect of BCDs were analyzed. Results:Among the C-SSQ12 dimensions, only the spatial hearing score was below 6.5 points, and it was also significantly lower than the average score as well as the scores for speech comprehension and listening quality（P<0.000 1）. There was no significant decrease in forward and backward digit span scores of SSD patients in the DST. BCD intervention could significantly improve the sentence recognition score in noise of SSD patients only under the condition of low SNR（speech recognition thresholdD-3 dB）（P<0.000 1）. The average score and spatial hearing score of C-SSQ12 in SSD patients were negatively correlated with the improvement of disyllabic word recognition threshold and SNR loss after BCD intervention（P<0.05）, and the backward digit span score was significantly positively correlated with the improvement of SNR loss after BCD intervention（P=0.03）. Conclusion:In the co-located condition, the intervention with BCD is more effective in SSD patients with superior cognitive function, particularly under low SNR environments. Clinical practice should combine multi-dimensional evaluations to achieve precise intervention.