108 Chapter 4.1 The manufacturer’s HARQ was completed for each participant to provide an insight into the day-to-day use of this adhesive retained BC hearing system. It comprised of 19 questions that looked at the functionality of using the aid. The overall response was positive in all areas but not all the questions included have an impact with regards to this study. We have therefore focused on the responses to six core questions (Fig. 5). Only four individuals reported minor skin redness, which resolved overnight once the adhesive adapter had been removed. Eighteen of the 21 children (86%) reported feeling more confident when wearing the adhesive system as compared with their previous hearing aid devices. Hearing quality was rated good or very good in 16 participants. The adhesive adaptor was changed at most, every second day and most often fell off only once during the whole period of study, indicating that it maintained its position well in children undertaking normal daily activities. The adhesive BC system was worn a mean of 9 hours per day (±2). At no time during the study did any child request to opt out and return to their previous bone conduction hearing device. 4. Discussion Literature review of PUBMED, Cochrane Library, and NHS Athens was conducted. To the authors’ knowledge there have been no previous published studies comparing the audiological and subjective benefit of an adhesive BC hearing system to softband aids in pediatric patients. The use of this adhesive retained BC hearing system provided comparable audiological results to the traditional softband BC solutions in children with CHL. The adhesive retained BC system improves thresholds on average, 7.3 dB HL above the softband aid after a minimum of 4 weeks use. The improvement was greatest at the higher frequencies which may be a result of the ability to position it with improved contact directly over the mastoid and thus the cochlear. The adhesive adaptor had to be replaced more often by four children, but this did not discourage them from using it. Three children had microtia with a low hairline, so hair shaving was necessary to ensure sufficient space for adapter placement. The redness of skin was reported in four children which resolved leaving the skin free over the night without any further treatment. Overall GCBI data indicated that the adhesive retained BC system has a benefit on quality of life with improvements in all but three individuals. The reason for these negative responses was reported as more “distractibility and loss of concentration”. This may in part be due to the influence of a new device which the child needs time to become acclimatised to. There was also feedback reported from a headscarf wearer reducing the quality of sound. The dimensions in which the greatest impact was demonstrated were Emotional and Learning.
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