A Systematic Review of the Nonacoustic Benefits of Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids

In Brief Objective: This study completed an evidence-based practice systematic review of the nonacoustic benefits for adult patients receiving bone-anchored hearing aid(s) (BAHAs) relative to other forms of amplification (i.e., none, bone-conduction hearing aids [BCHAs], or air-conduction hearing aids [ACHAs]). Design: Systematic review. Methods: ComDisDome and PubMed were used to perform a comprehensive search for studies that were of at least level III of evidence. Three independent reviewers completed the search, quality assessment, and data extraction. Results: Out of 28 studies, seven studies were identified, three of which were prospective and four of which were retrospective within-subject comparison designs. Nearly all of the studies were of small sample size and/or limited methodological quality, primarily because of logistics (e.g., heterogeneity of subject samples and prior experience with amplification). Conclusions: The evidence identified in this review is limited regarding the nonacoustic benefits of BAHAs compared with unaided conditions or other types of amplification. Professionals should use caution when counseling patients about the quality of life (QOL) benefits of these devices. Routine use of QOL outcome measures and standardized methods for reporting findings are critical in demonstrating the nonacoustic benefits of BAHAs. Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) have been found to be a viable amplification option for patients who can not or choose not to use either air-conduction hearing aids (ACHA) or bone-conduction hearing aids (BCHAs). A search of PubMed and the Communication Sciences and Disorders Dome retrieved 28 potential articles of which 7 met criteria for inclusion in a systematic review of the nonacoustic benefits of BAHAs compared to ACHAs, BCHAs, or no previous amplification at all. Due to the limitations of the included studies, the results of the systematic review indicated little evidence for the nonacoustic benefits provided by the use of BAHAs.