Comparison of Performance of Transcranial Contralateral Routing of Signal, Pre-Implanted Trimmer Digital and Digital Bone Anchored Hearing Aid in Adults with Unilateral Hearing Loss

Abstract

Individuals with unilateral hearing loss of severe-profound degree face listening difficulties while localizing a sound source and while perceiving speech in the presence of noise. The objective was to compare the efficacy of the digitally programmable bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA), trimmer digital BAHA and the transcranial contralateral routing of signal (T-CROS) in improving the listening performance in adults with unilateral hearing loss. Twenty-four adults with unilateral hearing loss was assessed for sound field thresholds, speech perception performance in quiet and noise (direct and indirect conditions) and the subjective quality rating of speech in unaided and aided with either T-CROS or digitally programmable BAHA or trimmer digital BAHA attached to the headband. Results indicated that the participants performed better with both the digitally programmable and the trimmer digital BAHA than the T-CROS in both quiet and noise. However, the digitally programmable BAHA performed better when the speech arrived from the poorer ear side. The current study helps in prioritizing the hearing amplification devices for the trial and also helps in arriving at the appropriate hearing amplification device for the individuals with unilateral hearing loss.