Authors' objectives:

This report aims to assess the usefulness of tactile devices in audiology.

Authors' results and conclusions: One consensus, a health technology assessment and 22 patient case series were used for this report. No coverage policies were identified. In general the quality of the studies found was poor since they are very small observational studies; often including less than 10 patients. In addition, different authors report that it is difficult to draw general conclusions among existing studies using tactile aids because they use devices that vary in the number of channels and type of stimulation provided. Despite these methodological differences, the research conducted to date suggests that tactile aids are appropriate for children who do not benefit from traditional amplification and who are not eligible for cochlear implant for medical reasons. Ertmer carried a study with 20 deaf children, comparing cochlear implants (n=10) versus Tactaid 7, (n=10) with 1.8 year follow-up in comparable groups from the point of view of sociodemography and type of pathology presented. The study showed that implants were better in most of the measurements considered. Seghal et al. reported a study with 20 children with profound hearing impairment. Ten had cochlear implants (CI) and ten, TA7. Both groups showed similar production of consonant imitative skills. After an average of one year and a half, the CI group showed greater pedagogical improvement. The text describes other smaller studies. Coverage policies No coverage policies were identified. It is not included in the PMO's (Mandatory medical plan) list of services provided.

Authors' recommendations: Multichannel devices have moderate benefit in language production skill acquisition. In general, they seem to provide useful phonetic information to improve some of the language discriminating features, especially, perception of consonants and diphthongs. This benefit is independent from the initial vocabulary level that the patient might handle. Besides, they moderately improve the perception of sounds not related to language such as environmental sounds. The usefulness of tactile devices is directly related to the age when it is placed and the length of use; consequently, a significant training period is required. It is worth mentioning that they only allow limited language recognition. In studies where it was compared with cochlear implants, the latter had better performance in helping language recognition in all the studies identified. Many studies show contradictory results as regards Tactaid 7 usefulness compared with other tactile devices, such as Tactaid II, its predecessor. The use of a tactile hearing aid should be considered in the context of all the available alternatives for hypoacusis or anacusic subjects. Trials including a larger number of patients, more tools to evaluate language and greater training of the enrolled subjects are needed to be able to more accurately evaluate this type of devices.

Authors' methods: Overview

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.iecs.org.ar/

Year Published: 2006

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Argentina

Organisation Name: Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy

Contact Address: Dr. Emilio Ravignani 2024, Buenos Aires - Argentina, C1414 CABA

Contact Name: info@iecs.org.ar

Contact Email: info@iecs.org.ar

Copyright: Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS)