Jennie Chiles, Au.D., an Audiologist who primarily work with children talks about Microtia, what the options for those patients used to be, and why the ADHEAR is a great new option for them.
Interview conducted by Ivanhoe Broadcast News in November 2018.
Can you start by explaining what Microtia is?
Jennie: Sure. Microtia is when the outer ear, what’s called the pinna, fails to develop. So, children can be born with a small like a crumpled looking ear or down to basically no ear at all. And often without a canal that’s open there for sound to come in.
What are the symptoms?
Jennie: The main symptom that’s identifiable and visible is that you see that the outside ear is not fully developed.
And that usually ends in hearing loss?
Jennie: Yes, and that usually leads to what’s called a conductive hearing loss. So, sound doesn’t get transmitted in to the hearing organ.
I saw that like ninety percent of it was in just one ear and it’s in the right ear, do you know why it’s in the right ear usually?
Jennie: I think that research shows it is kind of an anomaly; it tends to end up on the right side like you said ninety percent of cases.
How common is it?
Jennie: It’s actually kind of rare, it’s about a one in five thousand births that will have Microtia.
Before ADHEAR what were options for patients?
Jennie: Before the ADHEAR, there could be used bone anchor hearing aid or what’s called an osseointegrated hearing device. Without surgery, it could be placed on the head with a hard headband or a soft headband to keep the device in place. Or there could be surgery to implant either basically a metal abutment, a screw in to the skull or to place a magnet underneath the skin to allow the processor to be worn that way.
Why ADHEAR is different than the old options, why is it better?
Jennie: ADHEAR is different because it doesn’t require any type of surgical intervention to keep the processor on nor does it require any other pressure or anything on the head. It’s just an adhesive adaptor for the processor to snap on to, and then that’s it. There’s no additional pressure, no headbands or anything like that.
Can you explain how it works?
Jennie: It works by capturing the sounds through the microphone that’s on the side that it’s being worn, and it sends those sounds basically through little vibrations through the bones in the skull to a hearing organ itself. It bypasses that fact that there is no ear canal or no ear for the sound to travel through.
Does this enable patients to like hear like everybody else does?
Jennie: As long as we have the hearing organ in place, that’s responding normally, it does help to overcome the hearing loss. It does restore basically the awareness of sound on that side, and it does help with localization and hearing and in background noise especially.
And I know ADHEAR is pretty new so can you talk about that and how many people have it and so like one company that makes it?
Jennie: Yes, the ADHEAR was introduced by MED-EL. It was just FDA cleared and approved earlier this year, so I think right now there are less than twenty five people in the United States have been fit with it at this point. It is fairly new.
I want to talk about Story a little bit, why was she a good candidate for this?
Jennie: Story is a good candidate because she does have Microtia on the right side, and the hearing loss it is a straight conductive hearing loss. There is no permanent hearing loss in that right ear, it’s just because the sound can’t get to the hearing organ. This is exactly the kind of candidate that we want to see with an ADHEAR or with any kind of bone condition aid. She’s the perfect candidate for an ADHEAR because she really didn’t want any kind of surgery, but she was starting to struggle in noisy situations especially and at school. So, she wanted something to help her hear better.
Can you talk about her before and then the results now?
Jennie: Absolutely, before the ADHEAR, she told us she was struggling a lot in school especially when she started middle school it’s much noisier than in an elementary school setting. She said she had a lot of headaches struggling to listen throughout the school day. Since she’s been wearing it, she said that that has decreased dramatically. She’s found that she’s not even as tired at the end of the day. She doesn’t have to struggle to listen. She can hear her friends when they sit on her right side. She can hear them whisper on that side. It’s definitely helped her out tremendously.
Is that good for other conditions or just Microtia?
Jennie: ADHEAR is for any kind of conductive hearing loss. Sometimes a conductive hearing loss such as a Microtia, but it can also occur when there are chronic ear infections or fluid that’s built up in the ears, as well, It’s also indicated for people who have a single sided deafness so if they have no usable hearing in one ear, but the other ear is normal, it can be used for that situation as well.
Is it going to become more available in the future?
Jennie: It is becoming more popular. I think there are a lot of patients out there who have maybe not pursued any kind of amplification or any kind of help because they didn’t want a surgery, and they didn’t want to wear a headband. Or they tried a regular hearing aid, a standard behind the ear hearing aid, but it didn’t work because of the chronically draining ear or something like that. I think it would definitely help to fill a void that has been missing there for a while.
Is it covered by insurance?
Jennie: Yes. Most insurances it can be worked out. MED-EL works with the insurance to get the coverage. So, we had success getting Story’s approved by her insurance.
How much would it cost a child without insurance?
Jennie: Without insurance, it runs roughly about three thousand dollars for the entire kit.
Does insurance cover all of it?
Jennie: Yes, once we get everything approved the kit comes as one entity, and yes that would be covered.
Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you would people to know?
Jennie: I think just to know that there are additional options out there. This is a newer option, and some people might have said in the past, they might have rejected any kind of surgery or any other type of hearing aid for whatever reason. But this is a new option that opens the doors for a lot of people.
If somebody wants to look in to this should they just ask their doctor about it?
Jennie: Sure, they should definitely contact their audiologist or their ear, nose and throat physician and request an ADHEAR trial.
How new is it?
Jennie: The ADHEAR was approved for use in the United States in April, and the first orders were allowed to go through in August. So, this is very, very new, just a few months.
END OF INTERVIEW
This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.
If you would like more information, please contact:
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