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. 2020 Nov;277(11):2995-3002.
doi: 10.1007/s00405-020-06022-7. Epub 2020 May 13.

First United Kingdom experience of the novel Osia active transcutaneous piezoelectric bone conduction implant

Kimberley Lau  1   2 , Gianluca Scotta  3   4 , Kay Wright  5 , Vicki Proctor  5 , Larissa Greenwood  5 , Moustafa Dawoud  3   4 , Jaydip Ray  3   4
Affiliations

First United Kingdom experience of the novel Osia active transcutaneous piezoelectric bone conduction implant

Kimberley Lau et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: Bone conduction hearing devices are widely used and indicated in cases of conductive, mixed or single-sided deafness where the conventional hearing aids are not indicated or tolerated. This prospective study aims to investigate the surgical and hearing outcomes of a novel active piezoelectric transcutaneous bone conduction device (t-BCD).

Methods: Prospective data were collected from the first 10 patients who underwent implantation with the t-BCD Osia (Cochlear, Australia) (between Dec 2018 and March 2019) in a tertiary referral centre. The main outcome measures include: surgical outcome, free field speech testing with speech recognition thresholds, audiological gain and patient-reported outcomes including the 'Glasgow Benefit Inventory' (GBI) and the 'Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI).

Results: The mean length of surgery was 70.6 min (range 50-87, SD = 9.5). Mean skin thickness measured was 5.6 mm (range 4-8, SD = 1.1). There were two post-operative wound infections which settled conservatively. One required revision surgery to thin skin. The average gain in hearing with the implant was + 39.4 dB. Pre-implantation mean unaided SRT was 38.1 dB (SD = 7.8) and the post-implantation mean-aided SRT was 22.7 dB (SD = 4.6) (p = 0.000078). There was improvement in COSI domains. The mean Glasgow disability score dropped from 52% pre-implantation to 20% post-implantation (p = 0.001).

Conclusions: This new active t-BCHD provides excellent audiological gain and improvement in speech recognition. Patient-reported outcomes have also been very positive. The surgery was straightforward with no major surgical complications reported. Further studies will be required to examine long-term outcomes in larger number of patients.

Keywords: Active; Bone conduction device; Hearing aid; Hearing loss; Transcutaneous.

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