Effects of SoundBite Bone Conduction Hearing Aids on Speech Recognition and Quality of Life in Patients with Single-Sided Deafness

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the clinical application of SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids by assessing the improvement of speech recognition and the scores of the benefit scale questionnaire for patients with single-sided deafness (SSD).

Design: Nine patients aged 24 to 61 years with SSD for more than 3 months were enrolled in this study. The patients could understand and repeat Mandarin and have good compliance with the study. The measurements were evaluated before and after one month of wearing hearing aids using the pure tone audiometry threshold, speech recognition in quiet and in noise, and the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) benefit scale score.

Results: Pure tone audiometry results showed that the average hearing threshold of good ears and bad ears was 11.4 ± 2.6 dB HL and 89.9 ± 6.4 dB HL, respectively. The average hearing threshold of bad ears after wearing hearing aids was 23.5 ± 9.0 dB HL. Statistical analysis showed that the hearing improvement for the bad ears after wearing hearing aids was significant. The speech audiometry results showed that the disyllable word recognition score of the bad ears in quiet increased significantly at 50 dB SPL by 40 ± 12 percentage points and at 65 dB SPL by 71 ± 15 percentage points. As for the speech recognition in noise, when the signal sound came from the bad ear side and the noise from the good ear side (S_SSDN_AH), the speech recognition score (SRS) significantly increased by 17 ± 6 and 9 ± 4 at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of -2 dB and -5 dB, respectively, after wearing the hearing aids. When the signal sound came from the front of the patient and the noise from the bad ear side (S₀N_SSD), the SRS scores were reduced by 5 ± 5 and 7 ± 5 percentage points at SNR equal to -2 dB and -5 dB, which was significantly different from that before wearing the hearing aids. When the signal and noise both came from the front of the patients (S₀N₀), the SRS was not significantly increased by 5 ± 4 percentage points at SNR equal to -2 dB compared to before wearing hearing aids. However, the SRS was significantly increased by 5 ± 2 percentage points at SNR equal to -5 dB compared to before wearing hearing aids. The average total GBI score was 31 ± 12 for the nine patients, with an average score of 32 ± 10, 31 ± 8, and 30 ± 7 for general conditions, social support, and physical health, respectively. The results of the questionnaires showed that patients' quality of life was improved after wearing SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids.

Conclusions: SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids are a good choice for patients with SSD, as it could improve the speech recognition ability of patients both in a quiet and noisy environment and improves the quality of life after wearing hearing aids.

Figure 1

Average pure tone thresholds of SSD patients at frequencies of 250 to 8000 Hz before and after wearing a SoundBite bone conduction hearing aid. The lines represent the threshold of the good ear, the bad ear without the hearing aid, and the bad ear with the hearing aid. The bars represent one standard deviation.

Figure 2

Disyllable word SRS under quiet environment of the good ear and the bad ear before and after wearing SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids for SSD patients at sound intensity 50 and 65 dB SPL. The bars represent one standard deviation.

Figure 3

SRS under noisy environment before and after wearing SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids for SSD patients. The noise was at 65 dB SPL, and the SNR was equal to −2 and −5 dB. (a) S_SSDN_AH: the signal sound came from the bad ear side and the noise came from the good ear side. (b) S₀N_SSD: the signal sound came from the front of the patient and the noise came from the bad ear side. (c) S₀N₀: the signal and noise both came from the front of the patients. The bars represent one standard deviation.

Figure 4

Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) scores after wearing SoundBite bone conduction hearing aids for SSD patients. The total score and three subscale scores of general, social support, and physical health are shown separately. The bars represent one standard deviation.