Bone conduction devices send sound waves directly through the bone of the skull to the inner ear. They can be used for conductive hearing loss or single sided deafness (hearing loss in one ear). In conductive hearing loss the sound cannot get to the inner ear due to a problem with the outer ear canal, eardrum or middle ear bones.
The bone conduction device enables the sound to bypass the problem area by travelling through the skull bone to the inner ear.
Bone conduction devices can be implantable or non-implantable. Generally, the implantable ones give better sound quality as they can vibrate the skull bone directly. Non-implantable devices vibrate the skull bone through the skin.
Bone conduction implants consist of two parts:
External removable processor
Implantable part
The implanted part may be completely hidden under the skin and attached to the processor with a magnet, or it may be a small titanium screw protruding through the skin that the processor clips onto.
Both implantable and non-implantable bone conduction devices are available at our clinic.