Audiological Benefit With Non-implantable Bone Conduction Hearing Systems

Audiological Benefit With Non-implantable Bone Conduction Hearing Systems

Recently, a new non-invasive bone conduction hearing aid was introduced. The system is connected directly to the skin with an adhesive adapter to transmit the sound to the inner ear through bone vibrations. The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the audiological benefit of the new bone conduction hearing aid and compare it to an existing bone conduction hearing aid in normal hearing adults with bilateral simulated conductive hearing loss.

An evaluation of the improvement on speech understanding in noise and sound localization allows to estimate the system performance and enables to derive recommendations for clinical usage of the novel hearing system. It is hypothesized that in the bilateral condition similar speech understanding in noise and sound localization performance can be achieved with the new system compared to existing bone conduction hearing aids that are pressed against the skull using a soft band.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Written informed consent
• Adults (age ≥ 18 years on the test date)
• Normal hearing thresholds (AC/BC-thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL, 0.25 to 8 kHz)
• German native speakers
• Willingness and ability to perform all tests required for the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lack of compliance with any inclusion criteria
• Allergy against silicon (ear mold casting mass)