Vibrant Soundbridge and Bonebridge: Bilateral Application in a Child with Bilateral Congenital Ear Canal Atresia | Chapter 10 | Current Trends in Medicine and Medical Research Vol. 3
A 12-year-old child with bilateral
congenital microtia and ear canal atresia was bilaterally implanted with a
Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) on the right side and a Bonebridge on the left side.
Prior to these surgeries the child was using percutaneous bone conduction
devices (BCDs) on a headband for more than 9 years. No complications occurred
during the surgeries. Sound field audiological testing showed cumulative
benefit when both devices were used simultaneously. Directional hearing was
tested in a sound-attenuated room. To ensure
that the subject could only
use acoustic information to
localize sounds, the test was performed in complete darkness. The
ability to localize sounds was poor when listening with either the VSB or
Bonebridge, but increased significantly when both devices were used
simultaneously. To our knowledge this is the first case report about the
bilateral implantation of a VSB and Bonebridge. The VSB and Bonebridge were
effectively combined in a teenager with aural atresia on both sides. It should
be noted that from age 3 until the time of implant surgery, the patient had
used bilateral BCDs on headbands, so he had almost 10 years of experience with
bilateral auditory input. That might have been beneficial with respect to
binaural hearing.
Author(s) Details
Dr. Myrthe Hol
Radboud University Medical
Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of
Otorhinolaryngology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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