Those of you who have heard about the totally implantable hearing aid called the Envoy Esteem may be interested in a scientific paper just published November 17 in the medical journal, Otology & Neurotology. The paper is co-authored by me and my colleagues who participated in the clinical trials for Esteem, Drs. Eric M. Kraus, and Peter J. Catalano. The paper is based on the results of those trials, which led to approval of the device in March 2010. I am the principal author of the paper and also presented the clinical trial results during the annual conference of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery last year in Boston.
The paper summarizes the scientific data collected during the trials and provides details on the types of hearing loss presented by the patients we studied. It also quantifies the subsequent gain in speech reception threshold and word recognition scores (WRS). Specifically, preoperative speech reception threshold improved from an 65 dB without a hearing aid, and 48 dB average with a hearing aid, to 26 dB with the Esteem at 12 months. WRS at 50 dB scores improved from an 10% without a hearing aid, and 23% average with a hearing aid to 78% postoperatively with the Esteem.
Our conclusion is that The Esteem totally implantable middle ear hearing device provides appreciable functional gain and improvement in WRS to rehabilitate hearing in patients with a profound high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. To view the paper in its entirety, click here.
