Objectives: To review the trialing and uptake of hearing aids in children with unilateral microtia or canal atresia, known collectively as congenital unilateral conductive hearing loss (CUCHL), observed in a tertiary hospital and local peripheral services.
Materials and methods: A retrospective review of medical records for patients with CUCHL was conducted using data from a shared audiology database at a tertiary children's hospital.
Results: We identified 45 patients with CUCHL and excluded seven of them due to missing data. Of the 38 patients, 16 (16/38, 42%) did not have any subjective hearing complaints. Furthermore, 32% (12/38) of patients attended audiology at a tertiary centre and 83% (10/12) from this group trialled a hearing aid. In comparison, 46% (12/46) whose audiology care was delivered peripherally trialled aiding. Of the patients from the tertiary center, 58% (7/12) are still using a hearing aid compared to 27% (7/26) of patients from peripheral centers.
Conclusion: Our analysis shows that patients with CUCHL are more likely to try hearing aids and continue using them if their audiology care is in a tertiary center. Allowing for a small sample size, this may indicate a health inequality. Agreeing on minimum standards for the management of patients with CUCHL or managing them in a designated center could increase consistency.