Congenital aural atresia: Bone-anchored hearing aid vs. external auditory canal reconstruction

A Case of the Vibrant Soundbridge Implantation to Unilateral Congenital Aural Atresia

“…Most of the cases are isolated and sporadic; sometimes it is associated with syndromes like Treacher Collins, Goldenhar, and Pierre Robin syndrome or chromosome abnormalities like deletions of long arm of chromosome 18 [2,3].…”

“…The mean postoperative speech reception threshold is 25-35 dB HL, which is the range of mild hearing loss and around 30% of patients still need to have a conventional hearing aid to assist with hearing after surgery [3].…”

“…The reported rate of restenosis ranges from 5 to 29% [3,15,16]. Around 26% of the population requires reoperation [3].…”

“…The reported rate of restenosis ranges from 5 to 29% [3,15,16]. Around 26% of the population requires reoperation [3]. Serious complications may also happen in this surgery, such as worsening of hearing loss and facial nerve palsy in 1% of the cases [1], as up to 30% of this group of patients have an anomaly in the course of their facial nerve [17].…”

A meta-analysis of the long-term hearing outcomes and complications associated with atresiaplasty

“…The Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHA) system and vibrant sound-bridge (VSB) system are now both widely used in patients with CAA [7,8]. BAHA is also effectively utilized by patients who are not suitable surgical candidates for CAA, being relatively simpler, faster and associated with a lower complication rate [9,10].…”