Objective: Children with single-sided deafness often receive inconsistent clinical recommendations because there is currently no clear best practice in paediatric single-sided deafness. This systematic review of the literature aimed to compare commonly used treatments and attempted to support the use of a particular treatment modality.
Method: This was a comprehensive literature review from 1 January 2000 to 22 February 2022; the study compared the outcomes of bone conduction devices and cochlear implantation in paediatric patients with single-sided deafness.
Results: Fifteen studies consisting of 202 patients were examined. Variables including speech reception in quiet and noise, as well as quality of life measures were compared. Both cochlear implantation and bone-anchored hearing aids demonstrated benefits in sound perception. Quality of life measures improved with both modalities.
Conclusion: Although both bone-anchored hearing aids and cochlear implantation appear to provide significant improvements, additional research with more direct comparisons is needed to provide more decisive results.
Keywords: BAHA; Cochlear Implants; Hearing Aids; Hearing Loss; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural.