[Efficacy of softband Ponto in young children with bilateral congenital microtia with aural atresia].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate auditory developments and the effectiveness of children with congenital bilateral aural atresia after using softband Ponto and to compare them with children with normal hearing. METHOD: Twenty patients (age ranging from 3 months to 21 months ) with bilateral aural atresia were studied. The air and bone auditory thresholds were assessed by auditory brain stem response (ABR). The infant-todder meaning auditory integration scale (IT-MAIS) was used to evaluate the auditory development at three time levels baseline, 3 months and 6 months. RESULT: The average unaided bone conduction hearing thresholds of patients is (17.5 ± 5.9)dB nHL,and the average air conduction hearing thresholds is (72.5 ± 9.3)dB nHL. The average VRA hearing thresholds of 5 patients is (30.5 ± 5.9) dB HL. The IT-MAIS total, detection and perception scores are improved specifically after wearing softband Ponto and approaching the normal level. CONCLUSION: Softband Ponto is suitable for infants with bilateral atresia. Results from these auditory development testing are encouraging. Softband Ponto should be used as a bridge for surgical implantations when temporal bone is thick enough.