CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Laryngorhinootologie 2021; 100(S 02): S220
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1728438
Abstracts
Otology / Neurotology / Audiology

The Hannover Coupler V2: Audiological outcomes of a round window coupler for vibrant soundbridge

N Knölke
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
,
D Murawski
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
,
N Wardenga
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
,
H Maier
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
,
S Busch
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
,
T Lenarz
1   Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Hannover
› Author Affiliations
 

Introduction The coupling of the Floating Mass Transducers (FMT) of the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) to the round window results in varying audiological outcomes due to the /undefinable forces between FMT and membrane. Hannover Coupler V2 was designed to stabilize and control the coupling forces. First audiological outcomes are available.

Material and Methods By now, n=12 patients with mixed hearing loss and multiple ear operations were Implanted with the VSB and the Hannover Coupler V2 6 month ago. To assess the audiological outcomes, pre- and post- operative (6 month postoperative) hearing thresholds, Freiburg monosyllables (WRS) at 65 dB in quiet and the Oldenburger sentence test (OLSA, SNR) in noise were performed. The effective gain –the difference between boneconduction and soundfield threshold – was calculated.

Results Three out of 12 patients were re-implanted within 6 months, 1 patient was revised due to medical problems. One patient couldn’t perform the preoperative OLSA tests. In comparison to the unaided preoperative situation, the mean WRS improved from 6.3 %  to 79.4 %  (n=8) and the SNR from 15.1 dB to -0.9dB (n=7). A mean effective gain of 0.6  ±  12.5 (n=8) was achieved.

Conclusion The aided situation shows an improvement of speech recognition in quiet and in noise. The positive mean effective gain with small fluctuations indicates a good coupling efficiency. Two patients were reimplanted with a cochlea implant due to progressing hearing loss, one was re-implanted with a Bonebridge implant.

Poster-PDF A-1459.pdf



Publication History

Article published online:
13 May 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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