Seven studies (total n=560) of varying sample sizes (range: 9 to 227) were included in this review. Three studies used a prospective within-subjects design (n=82) and four used a retrospective design (n=478).
Based on the quality assessment details presented in the paper, only two of the included studies met more than one of the specified five criteria.
Four studies reported on the impact of BAHA on QoL for new hearing aid users (3 retrospective, 1 prospective). All found a benefit following BAHA implantation when measured by disease-specific QoL measures. A mixture of descriptive statistics and statistically significant differences contributed to this finding.
Three studies reported on the impact of BAHA on QoL for experienced hearing aid users (1 retrospective, 2 prospective). Mixed results were obtained. The generic QoL measures found either no nonacoustic benefit of BAHA or a negative effect, while a disease-specific QoL measure reported significant improvements following BAHA implantation.