Adriana L. Smit

Review: Bone Conduction Devices and Contralateral Routing of Sound Systems in Single-Sided Deafness

Systematically review the literature on the clinical outcome of bone conduction devices (BCD) and contralateral routing of sound systems (CROSS) for patients with single‐sided deafness (SSD).

The disease recurrence rate after the canal wall up (CWU) or canal wall down (CWD) technique in adults

To review which type of cholesteatoma surgery, canal wall up (CWU) or canal wall down (CWD), provides the lowest risk for residual and/or recurrent disease in adults with primary acquired cholesteatoma.

Comparison of laryngeal mask airway vs tracheal intubation: a systematic review on airway complications

To determine whether the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) has advantages over the tracheal tube (TT) in terms of incidence of cough, sore throat, laryngospasm, dysphagia, dysphonia, and blood staining. This is a systematic literature review performed at the Universtity Medical Center of Utrecht. The online databases PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials. Two independent reviewers selected relevant articles after title, abstract, and full text screening. Articles were assessed on risk of bias in accordance with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Study results of the LMA and the TT were related to the method of selection of the device size and the method for cuff inflation. Of the 1718 unique articles, we included 19 studies which used the LMA Classic, the LMA Proseal, the Flexible Reinforced LMA, and the LMA Supreme compared with TT. After methodological inspection, data could not be pooled due to heterogeneity among the selected studies. Overall, no clear advantage of the LMA over the TT was found but the LMA Supreme was related to the lowest incidence of airway complications. In this review, no clear difference in incidence of postoperative airway complications could be demonstrated between LMA and TT. The LMA Supreme may reduce the incidence of airway complication in comparison to the TT but high quality randomized trials are recommended to further objectify if use of the LMA decreases the risk on postoperative airway complications.

Effect of unilateral and simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation on tinnitus: A Prospective Study.

To determine the effect of cochlear implantation on tinnitus perception in patients with severe bilateral postlingual sensorineural hearing loss and to demonstrate possible differences between unilateral and bilateral cochlear implantation.

Stable benefits of bilateral over unilateral cochlear implantation after two years: A randomized controlled trial

To investigate hearing capabilities and self‐reported benefits of simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation (BiCI) compared with unilateral cochlear implantation (UCI) after a 2‐year follow‐up and to evaluate the learning effect of cochlear implantees over time.

Cochlear implantation in children with unilateral hearing loss: A systematic review.

To systematically review the literature on cochlear implantation (CI) for children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL).

Factors that influence outcomes in cochlear implantation in adults, based on patient-related characteristics – a retrospective study

Outcomes in speech perception following cochlear implantation in adults vary widely. Many studies have been carried out to identify and quantify factors that influence outcomes. This study adds a new dimension to pre‐existing literature.

Validation of the U-STARR with the AB-York crescent of sound, a new instrument to evaluate speech intelligibility in noise and spatial hearing skills

The Advanced Bionics® (AB)-York crescent of sound is a new test setup that comprises speech intelligibility in noise and localization tests that represent everyday listening situations. One of its tests is the Sentence Test with Adaptive Randomized Roving levels (STARR) with sentences and noise both presented from straight ahead. For the Dutch population, we adopted the AB-York setup and replaced the English sentences with a validated set of Dutch sentences. The Dutch version of the STARR is called the Utrecht-STARR (U-STARR). This study primarily assesses the validity and reliability of the U-STARR compared to the Plomp test, which is the current Dutch gold standard for speech-in-noise testing. The outcome of both tests is a speech reception threshold in noise (SRTn). Secondary outcomes are the SRTn measured with sounds from spatially separated sources (SISSS) as well as sound localization capability. We tested 29 normal-hearing adults and 18 postlingually deafened adult patients with unilateral cochlear implants (CI). This study shows that the U-STARR is adequate and reliable and seems better suited for severely hearing-impaired persons than the conventional Plomp test. Further, CI patients have poor spatial listening skills, as demonstrated with the AB-York test.

Fascia compared to one-piece composite cartilage-perichondrium grafting for tympanoplasty

To evaluate the effectiveness of type 1 tympanoplasty with one‐piece composite cartilage‐perichondrium (CCP) grafts compared to temporalis fascia (TF) grafts for tympanic membrane (TM) closure and hearing improvement in adult patients with a subtotal TM perforation and chronic otitis media (COM).

Systematic review of the use of bone cement in ossicular chain reconstruction and revision stapes surgery

To evaluate the effectiveness of bone cement on mean postoperative air–bone gap (ABG) and the proportion of ABG closure to within 20 dB in patients undergoing ossicular chain reconstruction or revision stapes surgery.