Article

A hearing aid using cartilage conduction (CC) has been proposed as an alternative
to bone conduction (BC) hearing aids. The transducer developed for this
application is lightweight, requires a much smaller fixation force than a BC
hearing aid, and is more convenient to use. CC can be of great benefit to
patients with fibrotic aural atresia. Fibrotic tissue connected to the ossicles
provides an additional pathway (termed fibrotic tissue pathway) for sound to
reach the cochlea by means of CC. To address the function of fibrotic tissue
pathway, BC and CC thresholds were measured in six ears with fibrotic aural
atresia. The relationship between the CC thresholds and the results of computed
tomography was investigated. In the ears with the presence of a fibrotic tissue
pathway, the CC thresholds were lower than the BC thresholds at 0.5 and 1.0 kHz.
At 2.0 kHz, no significant difference was observed between the BC and CC
thresholds. The current findings suggest that sound in the low to middle
frequency range is transmitted more efficiently by CC via a fibrotic tissue
pathway than BC. The development of hearing devices using CC can contribute to
rehabilitation, particularly in patients with fibrotic aural atresia.

Langue : ANGLAIS