Active Middle Ear Implantation: Long-term Medical and Technical Follow-up, Implant Survival, and Complications.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term medical and technical results, implant survival, and complications of the semi-implantable vibrant soundbridge (VSB), otologics middle ear transducer (MET), and the otologics fully implantable ossicular stimulator (FIMOS).

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Patients: Patients with chronic external otitis and either moderate to severe sensorineural or conductive/mixed hearing loss.

Amplification options for patients with mixed hearing loss.

Objectives: To compare amplification options for patients with mixed hearing loss. Devices tested include percutaneous and transcutaneous bone conductors (BCDs) and middle ear implants with their actuator directly coupled to the cochlea.

Setting: Tertiary academic medical center.

Multicenter study with a direct acoustic cochlear implant.

Objective: To confirm the clinical efficacy and safety of a direct acoustic cochlear implant.

Study Design: Prospective multicenter study.

Setting: The study was performed at 3 university hospitals in Europe (Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland).

Active middle ear implantation for patients with sensorineural hearing loss and external otitis: long-term outcome in patient satisfaction.

Objective: To study long-term subjective benefit of patients with sensorineural hearing loss and chronic external otitis who use active middle ear implants.

Design: Single-subject repeated measures in a preintervention and postintervention design with multiple postintervention measurements (questionnaires).

Setting: Tertiary academic center.

Vibrant Soundbridge surgery in patients with severe external otitis: complications of a transcanal approach.

Objective: To evaluate the transcanal surgical implantation of the semi-implantable Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) device in patients with severe external otitis.

Study Design: Retrospective analysis.

Methods: Long-term postoperative complications and postoperative hearing thresholds were evaluated in 13 adults with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (average of between 40 and 55 dB HL) and therapy-resistant external otitis after implantation of the VSB by a transcanal surgical method.

Inter-observer reliability of localization of recorded stridor sounds in children.

Objective: To determine the inter-observer reliability in localization of recorded stridor sounds in children.

Method: The stridor sounds of 28 children programmed for laryngobronchoscopy were recorded with a high quality digital recorder. Nineteen of these recordings with a diagnosis confirmed by endoscopy, were presented to otorhinolaryngology residents, academic specialists and non-academic consultants (n=38) in different situations with and without additional information about the subject.