Are there alternative treatments for unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in adults and children?
Unilateral sensori-neural hearing loss, also known as single-sided deafness (SSD), is underestimated and often untreated in adults and children. Conventional treatment includes; use of contralateral routing of signal (CROS) air conduction hearing aids, or powerful ITE or BTE aids with transcranial routing of the signal from the deaf side to the normal ear. Although CROS aids effectively deliver sound to the deaf ear, they also present disadvantages; such as the normal hearing ear s generally occluded with a microphone/transmitter, which potentially impacts that ear’s natural hearing capabilities, and comfort may also be a factor. Patients report CROS aids are cumbersome and are dissatisfied with having to wear prosthetics on both ears, rather than just one. For these reasons many patients reject CROS aids. Studies have shown CROS aids are not typically utilized by children in the classroom. FM systems are generally considered more beneficial than CROS systems in educational settings Mo
