by Michaela Coon

NEW Audiology Online: Bone Conduction Solutions for Children with Conductive, Mixed or Unilateral Hearing Loss

September 9, 2019

A new Audiology Online course is now open for registration: Bone Conduction Solutions for Children with Conductive, Mixed or Unilateral Hearing Loss.

The course will provide information on conductive, mixed and unilateral hearing loss in children and will describe how bone conduction is a unique treatment option.

Course Details
Bone Conduction Solutions for Children with Conductive, Mixed or Unilateral Hearing Loss

Presented by Lisa Christensen, Audiology Program Manager at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas

Wednesday, September 25, 2019 @ 12:00pm – 1:00pm EDT

This course is offered for continuing education in partnership with AudiologyOnline. Please visit www.AudiologyOnline.com for details regarding CEUs offered.

After attending this course you’ll be able to:
• Describe the common etiologies for conductive and mixed hearing loss in children and list common treatment options
• List the considerations for treating single-sided deafness in children
• Explain how treatment with bone conduction is uniquely suited to conductive and mixed hearing loss in children as well as single-sided deafness
• Describe the fitting and validation of Baha® bone conduction solutions in children*

Please visit Audiology Online to sign up now.

*In the United States and Canada, the placement of a bone-anchored implant is contraindicated in children under the age of 5

Healthy Hearing Ears: Second online seminar recap

December 6, 2021

By Tine Goossens, AuD PhD, Clinical Marketing Manager – Cochlear CLTD

Background

Chronic otitis media (COM) is one of the most common causes of hearing deprivation globally.¹ The Healthy Hearing Ears Initiative was started in 2019 by a global group of ENT surgeons with an expertise in treating COM-related hearing loss. Their mission is to gather clinical evidence to raise awareness, improve patient outcomes and shorten the time to obtaining good hearing outcomes. Given the key role of bone conduction devices in the treatment of COM-related hearing loss, Cochlear strongly supports this initiative.

On October 14^th, 2021 the second Healthy Hearing Ears seminar was held online. More than 300 people from across the globe registered for the event, indicating that the topic of COM-related hearing loss is of high interest worldwide. We are pleased to provide you with a short overview of the seminar and to share the recordings.

Seminar Part I – COM research presentations

In the first part of the seminar, Dr. Xabier Altuna (Spain) and Prof. Fazil Necdet Ardiç (Turkey) were invited as guest speakers. Dr. Altuna presented the results from a recently completed multi-center study on quality of life in patients with COM-related hearing loss. Through the COMOT-15 questionnaire, patients reported that hearing loss impacted their quality of life significantly, even more than the chronic infection itself, which highlights the importance of hearing rehabilitation in this patient group.

Prof. Ardiç shared the exciting first outcomes from an ongoing study on the cost-effectiveness of bone conduction hearing devices in patients with COM-related hearing loss. By means of the Client Service Receipt Inventory (CSRI), patients with COM indicated that they had to make multiple visits to different healthcare providers – ENT specialist, audiologist and GP’s – over the follow up period of six months, due to ear infections and/or hearing difficulties. This demonstrates the high health care utilization of patients with COM.

Watch the COM research presentations now!

Seminar Part II – COM case discussions

In the second part of the seminar, the Healthy Hearing Ears Advisory Board joined Dr. Altuna and Prof. Ardiç to discuss treatment options in six COM cases from their clinical practice. The cases covered a wide range of indications, providing the foundation for an interesting, lively discussion and thought-provoking quotes:

“I can do my best ossiculoplasty and I’m going to come up short of a bone conduction hearing device, because you still get a small amount of boost in the sensorineural levels in a lot of patients, even with a Baha 5.”

Dr. Douglas Backous, US

“I think one of the problems that we have is a lack of clear guidelines of ‘when not to do so many surgeries’ and to do just surgeries for the infection and then hearing rehabilitation with bone conduction systems.”

Dr. Rafael Jaramillo, Colombia

“Our experience in the last years is that more and more patients vote for bone conduction hearing devices, especially the transcutaneous solutions because it gives them a very high chance of hearing improvement and you have no problems with the ear canal which you might have with conventional hearing aids.”

Prof. Thomas Lenarz, Germany

During the case discussions, the lack of awareness surrounding bone conduction hearing devices among primary care practitioners and ENT specialists was raised and the topic of reimbursement*, which both hamper the uptake of bone conduction hearing devices in hearing rehabilitation. This, in turn, motivated the panel members to highlight the need for clinical evidence on bone conduction hearing devices in patients with COM-related hearing loss.

Watch the COM case discussions!

Visit the HHE website to read more about the initiative, sign up to be notified of upcoming seminars, clinical studies and new publications.

Reference:

Acuin J. Chronic suppurative otitis media: burden of illness and management options. Geneva (CH): World Healthy Organization; 2004.

*Otologic Management Services (OMS) is a no-charge service available from Cochlear. OMS helps patients and providers obtain necessary insurance coverage and assistance in appealing denied coverage for Nucleus ® cochlear implant systems and Baha® bone conduction systems. Contact OMS@cochlear.com for more information.

Hearing Health Today Podcast

August 13, 2020

Updated January 2022

Hearing Health Today is an educational and thought-provoking nine-episode podcast series that explores the key challenges, trends and opportunities in the delivery of hearing care today, and into the future. The podcast features hearing health experts from across the globe.

Subscribe now to receive the latest episode directly in your podcast feed. Season 2 is now available:

Episode 1: A multidisciplinary approach to CI care

Have you ever wondered about hearing health care across large geographies? Listen to Dr Phillip Chang, ENT Surgeon from Sydney, Australia, discuss patient-centered care and the multidisciplinary approach his team uses to serve country and regional patients.

Episode 2: Clinical pathways for sensorineural hearing loss

In this episode of Hearing Health Today, Professor Terry Zwolan shares her 30+ years’ experience of treating patients with sensorineural hearing loss and discusses the importance of the International Consensus Paper as well as her 60/60 referral guidelines.

Episode 3: Rethinking rehabilitation

Professor Esra Yucel shares her extensive rehabilitation experience and discusses the importance of real-world listening and communication as well as delivering personalized learning programs.

Episode 4: Factors shaping the hearing loss landscape

Does hearing impairment impact older adults’ physical and mental health? Can eating more fish or berries lower your risk of developing hearing loss? Australian epidemiologist, Professor Bamini Gopinath, discusses how lifestyle factors impact on hearing loss and other health and social outcomes.

Episode 5: The power of two: rise of the empowered patient

How can empowerment help patients to move along their hearing loss journey? Listen to the Executive Director of the ACI Alliance, Donna Sorkin, discuss ‘The power of two: rise of the empowered patient’ on the episode of Hearing Health Today.

Episode 6: Clinical pathways for mixed hearing loss

Professor Ad Snik, from Nijmegen, the Netherlands shares his career highlights and discusses the current clinical pathways for mixed hearing loss including what really influences hearing outcomes and sound quality.

Episode 7: Referral pathways for Chronic Otitis Media

Professor Kelvin Kong, Australia’s first Indigenous surgeon, shares his experiences treating chronic otitis media. He also discusses the disparate access to health care and the impact on First Nations peoples in Australia.

Episode 8: The power of two: professional and patient perspective’s of awareness

In this episode of Hearing Health Today, Barbara Kelley, the Executive Director of the Hearing Loss Association of America and Abigail Heringer, cochlear implant recipient and contestant on “The Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise”, discuss awareness and explore different awareness channels for both professionals and patients. We’ll also learn about the CIICA and how important the combination of professionals and patients’ voices are to improving awareness of hearing loss.

Episode 9: A unique perspective of hearing loss

Professor Michal Luntz shares her unique perspective on hearing loss as a physician, surgeon, scientist, teacher and cochlear implant recipient.

Episode 10: The future of hearing care – a surgeon’s perspective

In this episode of Hearing Health Today, David Kelsall, MD, shares how his experience on medical missions abroad, conducting clinical research and performing surgeries throughout the years has shaped his view on the current successes and opportunities of hearing health care, and what the future may hold.

Enjoy Hearing Health Today? Have suggestions? We value your feedback – please take a few minutes to complete our survey.

Listen now via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

Season 1 is also available on these platforms.

The views of the interviewees in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Cochlear Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

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