Comparison of an adhesive wearing option and a headband in a non-implantable bone conduction hearing device
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Non-implantable bone conduction (BC) hearing systems are well-established for individuals with conductive or mixed hearing loss. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the audiological performance of two wearing options-an adhesive adapter and headband-worn unilaterally and bilaterally using the same non-implantable BC hearing device Contact Forte (BHM Inc., Grafenschachen, Austria). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifteen normal hearing adults with simulated bilateral conductive hearing losses participated in the study. Speech understanding in quiet and in noise were measured unaided and with BC devices worn unilaterally, bilaterally, with adhesive adapters, and mounted on headbands. Sound quality was rated using a questionnaire. RESULTS: At 50 dB SPL word recognition scores in quiet improved, on average, by 58% (unilateral), and 69% (bilateral) with adhesive adapters and by 65% and 74% with headbands. At 65 dB mean scores were above 95% in all aided conditions. In noise, speech presented speech reception thresholds decreased by 2.3-3.6 dB. With two devices, an additional benefit of 4.4 dB SNR (p<.001) was observed for speech from the side of the second device. Participants favored the bilateral configurations. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Both wearing options showed comparable improvements in speech understanding. Bilateral fittings led to better speech understanding for one configuration and were favored subjectively.
Source: Acta Oto-Laryngologica
Institutions: University of Bern, University Hospital of Bern
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7127037616