Completely-in-the-canal and bone anchored hearing aids

Hearing aids are used to amplify and deliver sounds.1 There are different categories of hearing aids including conventional hearing aids, bone conduction devices, middle-ear implants, and bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHA).1 Conventional hearing aids can be behind the ear, in the ear, in the ear canal, completely-in–the-canal (CIC), on the body, or contralateral routing of signal. [...] The intent is to provide a list of sources and a summary of the best evidence on the topic that CADTH could identify using all reasonable efforts within the time allowed. [...] The included studies for the health technology assessment appeared to be three reviews (no statement regarding the methodological rigour of the reviews), including one from the Medical Advisory Secretariat, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and twenty primary studies published after the Ontario review. [...] The authors concluded that there was limited empirical evidence regarding the non-acoustic benefits of BAHA compared to conventional hearing aids or no hearing aids and therefore, physicians should be cautious when advising patients on the non-acoustic benefits of the BAHA. [...] For the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, the aided BAHA group performed statistically significantly better on three of four subscales (background noise, ease of communication, and reverberation sections) as well as the global scale compared with the non-aided BAHA group.