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77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

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The Direct Drive Simulator (DDS) in the selection of Vibrant Soundbridge®-Patient

Der Direct Drive Simulator (DDS) in der Auswahl von Vibrant Soundbridge-Patienten

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Steffen Rose - Med. University Hanover, Hannover, Germany
  • Hamidreza Mojallal - Med. University Hanover, Hannover, Germany
  • Thomas Lenarz - Med. University Hanover, Hannover, Germany

German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hno053

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2006/06hno053.shtml

Published: September 7, 2006

© 2006 Rose et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: The Vibrant Soundbridge® (VSB) is an implantable middle ear hearing-device for patients with a mild to severe sensorineural hearing-loss. A Floating-Mass-Transducer (FMT) is used as “direct drive” at the ossicular chain. For the preoperative selection and as an offer for the patients now a simulation system, the „Direct Drive Simulator (DDS), is available.

Method: For the evaluation of the system the simulator was put on eleven unilaterally implanted VSB-patients onto the unsupplied ear. A modified FMT was connected onto the eardrum. Audiological tests were carried on in each case unilateral as well as bilateral. The Freiburger-Monosyllabic test, with and without noise, was carried on. A sound impression occurred by means of music different genre. A subjective judgement occurred via a designed questionnaire.

Results: The speech discrimination with the modified FMT compared with the implanted FMT was poorer by 10%, but quite similar. The results of the simulated bilateral supply show an improvement of the speech discrimination, without background noise, around 13 %. Subjectively the majority of the patients indicated a comparable sound impression of the simulator to the implant and improved speech discrimination with simulated bilateral supply.

Conclusion: The commitment of the Direct Drive Simulators offers a good possibility in the preoperative selection of the patients and is firm component of the current preliminary investigation for the middle ear implantation of the ENT-clinic of the MHH.