Bone bridge conduction device for patients with bilateral microtia-atresia.
Reviewed by Sangeeta Maini and Bhaskar Ram

Management of microtia-atresia requires a multidisciplinary approach. Children normally require bone conduction hearing aid devices very early in life to improve and facilitate speech and language development. At a later stage, when the cranial bones have strengthened and become thicker, a suitable transcutaneous bone conduction or bone anchored hearing aid is implanted. In this article, the authors report the hearing outcome of bone bridge implant in his series of 100 patients with bilateral microtia-atresia. The study compared the hearing outcome in three conditions, namely unaided thresholds, preoperative bone conduction hearing aid (BCHA) thresholds (soft band/hard band), and hearing thresholds following bone bridge (BB) implantation at 12 weeks. The preoperative workup seems reasonable. Authors used a set selection criterion for choosing the right candidate for surgery, performed appropriate audiological workup, and also included the patient satisfaction questionnaire, the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid (APHAB), in their study.They report no major complications following surgery. In their conclusion they report the BB outcome to be significantly better compared to unaided status or to preoperative bone conduction hearing aid. The only limitation of the study was a short follow-up interval at 12 weeks. Long-term outcome would have strengthened the study even more.

Comparative effects of unilateral and bilateral bone conduction hearing devices on functional hearing and sound localization abilities in patients with bilateral microtia-atresia.
Fan X, Ping L, Yang T, et al.
ACTA OTOLARYNGOL
2020;140(7):575-82