This presentation will review current advancements in bone conduction products, including implantable and non-implantable devices as well as potential benefits and drawbacks of different technologies. Candidacy criteria, surgical procedures, fitting philosophies, verification/validation procedures, and recommended subjective measures will be analyzed for efficacy. Further, barriers to care in remote areas, resource challenges, and ethical decision making will be discussed from a Provincial public health perspective. Real-world cases will be presented in order to illustrate these challenges. A comparison of coverage for this technology across Provinces in Canada will be discussed to illustrate different approaches to care and reveal gaps in coverage. The presentation will also include a review of current publications as well as internal program data to provide attendees with a broad overview of recent advancements in technology as well as objective and subjective benefit for recipients. Finally, speculation on next generation technology will be included as the market continues to develop improved technologies for this patient population.
Learning objectives
- Provide an overview of implantable and non-implantable bone conduction technologies.
- Detail candidacy criteria and common surgical procedures for implantable technology.
- Describe challenges to care from an ethical, geographical and limited resource perspective.
