Bone Conduction Hearing Implants for patients with single sided deafness

Published on 02 May 2022
Last Updated on 17 Feb 2023

Guidance Recommendation

The Ministry of Health’s MTAC has recommended subsidy for:

• Unilateral bone conduction hearing implant (BCHI) system in patients if they are:

  • Diagnosed with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in one ear, also known as single-sided deafness (SSD); AND

  • Assessed by the attending healthcare professional to be:

    • Ineligible, or did not sufficiently benefit from conservative treatment or conventional hearing aid; AND

    • Unlikely to benefit from contralateral routing of signals (CROS) hearing aid based on a CROS trial, or deemed anatomically or physiologically unable to undertake such trial; AND

    • Gaining clinical benefit based on a trial with bone conduction wearables.

• Unilateral bone conduction wearables in children younger than five years old or without adequate mastoid thickness to support an implant if they are:

  • Diagnosed with SSD; AND

  • Assessed by the attending healthcare professional to be:

    • Ineligible, or did not sufficiently benefit from conservative treatment or conventional hearing aid; AND

    • Unlikely to benefit from CROS hearing aid based on a CROS trial, or deemed anatomically or physiologically unable to undertake such trial; AND

    • Gaining clinical benefit based on a trial with bone conduction wearables.

• Patients with SSD who had previously received subsidised bone conduction wearables can be eligible for subsidy of unilateral BCHI system if deemed by the attending healthcare professional to be clinically suitable and likely to receive sufficient benefit from BCHI system.

• Children (<18 years old) with SSD who are using BCHI system or bone conduction wearables can be eligible for subsidy for the replacement of BCHI sound processors (including replacement with or without upgrade where an upgrade refers to a change to a later model than currently used by the individual) if the following criteria are met:

  • The child is deemed by the attending healthcare professional to be receiving sufficient benefits from BCHI, and demonstrating continued need for BCHI; AND

  • The existing BCHI sound processor has been used for at least five years, and its deterioration in performance is deemed by the attending healthcare professional to warrant replacement for achieving optimal hearing.

Subsidy status

BCHI system and bone conduction wearables are recommended for inclusion on the MOH Medical Technology Subsidy List (MTSL). Listed models are recommended for subsidy when used in line with the abovementioned recommendations.

Subsidies will not apply to devices and accessories that are not included in the standard or replacement packages of BCHI devices, including replacement of, or upgrades to, internal implants.

Bone conduction hearing implants for patients with single sided deafness [PDF, 295 KB]