Direct bone anchorage of external hearing aids.

Some patients with hearing disorders cannot wear a conventional hearing aid but have to use bone conduction in which the aid has to be attached with steel springs over the head. A new method of reconstruction involving the insertion of bone-anchored screws has been tested in a clinical survey of 14 patients. A titanium implant was anchored in the temporal bone and, in a later session, connected to a skin penetrating abutment. An external hearing aid was snapped on to the abutment. The patients have now been followed up for 53 months. There have been no problems with the bone anchorage or with infections around the skin penetration site. The hearing of the patients has improved. The cosmetic result is reported to be favourable.