Question
When programming hearing aids for patients with enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) that present with a conductive component, should the bone conduction thresholds be used for programming and verification of the hearing aid, or should the loss be considered sensorineural for this purpose?
Answer
That is a good question. I do not think there is a hard-and-fast rule for that. Considering all the information that we have that EVA is likely not originating from the middle ear, you may want to program it for the sensorineural loss. You would want feedback from the patient, if possible. You can try programming it both ways to see if performance is better in one condition over the other. I would definitely verify the fitting electroacoustically as well as in the booth, including word recognition. The other thing you can do is have parents (or teachers) keep documentation of their child’s behavior and responses if you do change the settings.
This Ask the Expert was taken from the Advanced Bionics course, Advanced Management of Complex Cases: Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct.
