Unilateral conductive hearing loss and ADHEAR: 2 case reports

Abstract

Bone conduction systems are sometimes not well tolerated due to the tension on the skull. Therefore, a brand non-surgical device was developed, the ADHEAR (MED-EL, Innsbruck, Austria). It is based on a novel fixation system using an adhesive adapter, which allows for a more comfortable and efficient mechanical transmission of the acoustic signal and that can be used as treatment for conductive hearing loss. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the performance of ADHEAR in two patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss. An 8-years-old patient with external ear canal stenosis obtained a functional gain of 28.75 dB, while a 16-years-old patient with Goldenhar syndrome showed a recovery of 53.75 dB. Therefore, both cases suggest that ADHEAR appears to be an effective treatment for pediatric patients who due to the medical condition cannot be treated surgically or fitted with conventional hearing aids.

Keywords:

• ADHEAR
• bone conduction
• conductive hearing loss
• hearing aid
• functional gain

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge participants and their parents for generously sharing their time in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Informed consent statement

Parents or legal representatives of the minor participants gave written consent prior to their participation in the study, and the procedures were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.