Clinical Performance of a New Implant System for Bone Conduction Hearing

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA system at 3 month, measured as free-field hearing test; Threshold audiometry PTA4 (mean of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) is presented. A Pure Tone Average (PTA) refers to the average of hearing threshold levels at a set of specified frequencies: typically 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz. This value gives a snapshot of an individual's hearing level. If PTA is <25 dB, the overall hearing would be considered to be within normal limits. With a PTA of 95 dB, the hearing would be considered in the profound range. The units reported for PTA4 are decibels (dB). The results presented here are the difference of PTA4 unaided and PTA4 aided with the Osia system. An uaided PTA4 values should be higher than a aided PTA4 if the hearing device is effective. A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects a better ability to hear softer sounds.

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 3 months measured as free field hearing test Adaptive speech recognition in noise, is presented. Adaptive speech recognition in noise was measured as Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The noise was kept constant at 65 dB SPL and the speech was adapted in dB steps to establish the Speech-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) providing a 50% level of understanding. A ratio of 0 reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences at 65 dB, in the presence of 65 dB background noise. A negative SNR-value reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences below 65 dB, for example if 50% of the speech is received correctly at 55 dB the SNR value is -10. A positive SNR-value (Speech to Noise Ratio) reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences presented above 65 dB. A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects abetter hearing in a noisy enviroment.

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearinhg situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA system at 4 weeks, 6 and 12 months, measured as free-field hearing test: Threshold audiometry PTA4 (mean of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) is presented. A Pure Tone Average (PTA) refers to the average of hearing threshold levels at a set of specified frequencies: typically 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz. This value gives a snapshot of an individual's hearing level. If PTA is <25 dB, the overall hearing would be considered to be within normal limits. With a PTA of 95 dB, the hearing would be considered in the profound range. The units reported for PTA4 are decibels (dB). The results presented here are the difference of PTA4 unaided and PTA4 aided with the Osia system. An uaided PTA4 values should be higher than a aided PTA4 if the hearing device is effective. A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects a better ability to hear softer sounds.

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA system at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months, measured as free-field hearing test: Threshold audiometry (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 6.0 and 8.0 kHz) is presented. This value gives a snapshot of an individual's hearing level. If PTA is <25 dB, the overall hearing would be considered to be within normal limits. With a PTA of 95 dB, the hearing would be considered in the profound range. The units reported for PTA4 are decibels (dB). The results presented here are the difference of the unaided hearing level expressed in dB and the hearing level aided with the Osia system at different time points. An unaided value should be higher than a aided if the hearing device is effective. A lower or more negative score is therefor more desirable and reflects a better ability to hear at the specified frequency.

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months, measured as free-field hearing test Speech in quiet at 50, 65 and 80 dB SPL [% correctly perceived words at 50, 65 and 80 dB SPL] is presented. The change in percent points is presented. A positive value indicates an improved ability to perceive words in quiet at the specified decibel (dB) level a negative value represent an impairment.

The change of hearing performance from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 3 months measured as free field hearing test Adaptive speech recognition in noise, is presented. Adaptive speech recognition in noise was measured as Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The noise was kept constant at 65 dB SPL and the speech was adapted in dB steps to establish the Speech-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) providing a 50% level of understanding. A ratio of 0 reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences at 65 dB, in the presence of 65 dB background noise. A negative SNR-value reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences below 65 dB, for example if 50% of the speech is received correctly at 55 dB the SNR value is -10. A positive SNR-value (Speech to Noise Ratio) reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences presented above 65 dB. A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects a better hearing in a noisy environment.

The change of Ease of communication, Reverberation, Background noise, Aversiveness and a Global score from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 3 and 12 months is presented. All subscales range from 0-100%, total score is the average of all subscales 0-100%, where 0% indicates no problem and 100% indicates always problem. The difference between the unaided and the aided situation is presented. In an ultimate case the unaided value could be 100 and the aided 0, the result is then 100. A positive value indicates an improvement, a negative value an impairment.

The change of health status and health related quality of life from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 3 and 12 months using the generic quality of life scale Health Utilities Index (HUI3) is presented. All subscales (comprehensive health state, vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, dexterity, emotion, pain, cognition) range from 0-1. A health utility value of 1.00 indicates perfect health while a score of 0.00 indicates death. The difference between the unaided and the aided situation is presented. In an ultimate case the unaided value could be 0 and the aided 1, the result is then 1.0. A positive value indicates an improved quality of life, a negative value indicates impaired quality of life.

The change of speech, spatial and hearing experiences from the unaided hearing situation before surgery to the aided hearing situation with the OSIA System at 3 and 12 months using the SSQ scale is presented. All subscales (speech, spatial, quality) range from 0 to 10, where 0 represents "can not hear at all", and 10 "hear perfectly". Total score is a average of the subscales. A positive value indicates improved hearing, a negative value indicates impaired hearing.

The change of hearing performance with the OSIA System at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months compared to the pre-operative aided situation with BP110 on softband, measured as free-field hearing test; Threshold audiometry PTA4 (mean of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) is presented. The units reported for PTA4 are decibels (dB). A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects a better ability to hear softer sounds.

The change of hearing performance with the OSIA System at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months compared to the pre-operative aided situation with BP110 on softband, measured as free-field hearing test; Threshold audiometry individual frequencies (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 6.0 and 8.0 kHz) is presented. The units reported are decibels (dB). A lower or more negative score is more desirable and reflects a better ability to hear softer sounds.

The change of hearing performance with the OSIA System at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months compared to the pre-operative aided situation with BP110 on softband measured as free-field hearing test; Speech in quiet [% correctly perceived words at 50, 65 and 80 dB SPL]. The change in percent points is presented. A positive value indicates an improved ability to perceive words in quiet at the specified decibel (dB) level a negative value represent an impairment.

The change of hearing performance with the OSIA System at 4 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months compared to the pre-operative aided situation with BP110 on softband;measured with free field hearing test Adaptive speech recognition in noise which was measured as signal to noise ratio (SNR). The noise was kept constant at 65 dB SPL and the speech was adapted in dB steps to establish the speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) providing a 50% level of understanding. A ratio of 0 reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences at 65 dB, in the presence of 65 dB background noise. A negative SNR-value reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences below 65 dB. A positive SNR-value reflects the ability to correctly hear sentences presented above 65 dB. A lower or more negative score is more desirable and represent a better hearing in a noisy environment.

Surgery time in minutes between first incision and last suture

Surgical information: Soft tissue thickness was measured in mm

Surgical information: a question was asked if soft tissue reduction had been performed. Could be answered by ticking a box for "Yes" or "No".

Surgical information: a question is asked if bone polishing/removal at Implant site has been performed. Yes or No can be ticked.

Surgical information: a question is asked which type of anaesthesia has been used: local or general can be ticked.

Surgical information: where is the location of the BI300 implant, measured in two different ways:

Alternative 1 used for the first 6 subjects: Location from the ear channel in mm.

Alternative 2 used for the rest of the population 45 subjects, after an amendment: measured in mm horizontally and vertically from ear channel. and the distance in mm between the receiver and the coil.

Value 9.64 mm vertically from ear channel is correct.

Surgical information: a question was asked regarding what type of incision had been used; C-shaped flap, posterior based flap or other could be ticked.

Sound processor usage time measured as hours per day.

Comfort of sound processor measured with a visual analogue scale where 0% is defined as no comfort at all and 100% as most comfortable imaginable, i.e. minimum 0, maximum 100.

Available magnet strengths: 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, where 1/2 is the weakest and 6 the strongest.

A question was asked if the subjects used softpads; yes or no could be ticked.