Posted 03/19/2011
The device, called SoundBite, directs sound through the jaw to the inner ear.
is placed on the left or right upper molar and produced to suit each patient.
Experts warn, however, that the apparatus may not be suitable for all deaf people.
Bone Conduction Hearing aids
conventional air conduction used to increase the volume of sound, but SoundBite uses a different approach: bone conduction.
First, a network of minimicrófonos placed behind the ear pick up sound disabled in the environment and noise-canceling.
The sound is transmitted wirelessly to the prosthesis in the mouth.
Then the device sends vibrations through the teeth and bones directly to the cochlea, the inner-ear hearing preventing hearing middle and outer.
Thus, the device may help people with deafness in one ear to listen in stereo.
The company that produced the system, Sonitus Medical, states that the mechanism is the first non-surgical device that uses bone conduction.
However, the device may not be suitable for all people with hearing loss.
As stated by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) in the United States, only in this country there are approximately nine million deaf or partially deaf.
Of these, only six million people need to use a hearing aid and those six million, only about two million use it.
Most non-users claim it is for aesthetic reasons, they do not like how they look with the apparatus.
According to Angela King, consultant in audiology RNID, there are no assurances that the new device will be well received.
"Just see it to imagine that it is very uncomfortable," says the expert.
"Furthermore, many patients refuse conventional hearing devices, may also reject it because it also requires using the small microphone behind the ear," he adds.
Source: BBC
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