Otologics Middle Ear Transducer With Contralateral Conventional Hearing Aid in Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss

*Hospices Civils de Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, De´partement d’Otologie et d_Oto-neurochirurgie,Pierre-Be´nite; ÞUniversite´ de Lyon, Universite´ Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR5020 Neurosciencessensorielles, Comportement, Cognition, Lyon; þHospices Civils de Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud,Service d_Audiologie et Explorations Oro-faciales, Pierre-Be´nite; and §Hospices Civils de Lyon,Hoˆpital Edouard Herriot, De´partement d’ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-Maxillo-Faciale et d’Audiophonologie, Lyon, FranceObjectives: To report the audiometric outcomes of patients withsevere sensorineural hearing loss and who have been fitted witha Middle Ear Transducer (MET) on one side and fitted with anoptimized conventional hearing aid on the other side.Study Design: The MET fitting results were measured andcompared with contralateral conventional hearing aids in a pro-spective study.Setting: Tertiary referral center.Patients: Seven patients (ages, 53Y77 yr) with severe sensori-neural hearing loss (pure-tone average, 71Y90 dB HL) wereimplanted between December 2004 and March 2006.Method: Audiometric testing was performed the day of activa-tion (2 mo postoperative) and after 8 days and 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and24 months. For each follow-up, MET and conventional hearingaid were optimized according to the patient’s hearing loss.Results: Mean functional gains were 29 dB for conventionalhearing aid and 35 dB the first day of the study with the METand 39 dB after 6 months.Discussion: The performance of the MET and the absence ofocclusion of the external auditory canal could explain the im-proved benefit. For maximum gain, the MET requires a reg-ular follow-up during the first 6 months.Conclusion: MET seems to be a suitable and successful treat-ment option resulting in significant improvement in speechcomprehension, especially after 6 months, in patients with severesensorineuralhearingloss.Duringthe24-monthfollow-upofthisstudy, the METhas been a safe and effective treatment for severehearing loss. Key Words: Active middle ear implantVHearingaidVMiddle ear transducerVSensorineural hearing loss.Otol Neurotol 00:00Y00, 2010.