Comparative study of functional gains between an active bone conduction implant

device (Bonebridge) and bone conduction adhesive device (Adhear) in patients with
bilateral microtia.

SUMMARY

Introduction: Maximum functional hearing impairment in children causes great impact in

their biopsychosocial and cognitive development if it is not assisted with hearing devices.
Patients with pinna malformations have difficulties with the use of conventional hearing aids,
which is where bone conduction devices become very important, and we can find them in
implantable and non-implantable presentations.

Objective: Evaluate the effect of an implantable bone conduction device compared to a non-
implantable one, in relation to the functional gain, in patients with conduction hearing loss
secondary to bilateral microtia, with surgery performed between April 2017 and March 2020
in Hospital Guillermo Grant Benavente (HGGB).

Material and Method: Quasi-experimental crossover design study. Revision of electronic

medical records of patients with conduction hearing loss secondary to bilateral microtia with
Bonebridge implant surgery performed between April 2017 and March 2020 in HGGB.
Recollection of epidemiologic data and audiological results with Bonebridge on/off and
Adhear. ANOVA test of repeated measures and post hoc analysis with Bonferroni test.

Results: Auditory benefit was demonstrated in all patients with Bonebridge and Adhear. Free
field audiometry with a pure tone average without amplification of 65,1 dB, 31,7 dB with
Bonebrige and 39,1 dB with Adhear . Functional gain with Bonebridge is 33,3 dB and 25,9
with Adhear. Bonebridge as well as Adhear present benefits in relation to a baseline speech
audiometry.

Conclusion: Functional gains were demonstrated in patients with Bonebridge and Adhear,
with superior results in the case of Bonebridge. Both devices showed improvement in terms
of speech without difference. In our experience the surgical technique of entry by the middle
fossa is a safe technique.

Key words: Conduction Hearing Loss, Microtea, Bone conduction implant, Bonebridge,
Adhear.