Cartilage Conduction Hearing and Its Clinical Application

Nishimura, Tadashi; Hosoi, Hiroshi; Shimokura, Ryota; Morimoto, Chihiro; Kitahara, Tadashi

doi:10.3390/audiolres11020023

Cited by 13 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Cartilage conduction is a newly suggested transduction form whose characteristics are different from air and bone conductions. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] CCHA has several advantages such as sound clarity, sound localization, and more stable connection between the transducer and the cartilage surface [20][21][22]. The transducer can be attached to the cartilage part in humans via a special double-sided tape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

et al. 2021

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Hearing improvement represents one of the may valuable outcomes in microtia and aural atresia reconstruction surgery. Most patients with poor development in their hearing function have had a severe microtia. Conventional methods to improve hearing function are bone conduction and bone anchored hearing aids. Cartilage conduction hearing aids (CCHA) represents a new amplification method. This study assessed the outcomes and evaluated the impact and its safety in the patients with microtia and aural atresia whose hearing dysfunction did not improve after surgery for ear reconstruction in our hospital. Hearing functions were evaluated with pure tone audiometry or sound field testing by behavioral audiometry and speech audiometry before and after CCHA fitting. As a result, there was a significant difference between unaided and aided thresholds (p < 0.001). Speech recognition threshold and speech discrimination level also significantly improved with CCHA. The average functional gains of 14 ears were 26.9 ± 2.3 dB. Almost all parents of the patients reported satisfaction with the performance of CCHA, and daily communication in children with hearing loss also became better than usual.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

et al. 2021

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“… 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 The mechanism underlying the airborne sound generation for cartilage AC resembles that for a vibration speaker. 7 The cartilaginous portion of the ear canal functions as a movable plate, which increases the signal in the ear canal compared to that emitted directly from the transducer. 8 , 9 This amplified signal drives the eardrum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, CC‐HAs have the advantages of comfort, stable fixation, good esthetics, and noninvasiveness. 7 They have been clinically used in Japan since 2017 and have quickly become a beneficial option for patients with aural atresia. 17 The Oto‐Rhino‐Laryngological Society of Japan presents information related to CC‐HAs along with information regarding bone‐anchored hearing aid (BAHA), Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB), and cochlear implants at their website.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of transducer placements on thresholds in ears with an abnormal ear canal and severe conductive hearing loss

Nishimura

Hosoi

Saito

et al. 2021

Laryngoscope Investig Oto

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Objectives Providing hearing compensation to patients with aural atresia is considerably challenging. Hearing aid transducers vibrating the aural cartilage (cartilage conduction; CC) have been devised, and hearing aids utilizing them (CC hearing aids) have quickly become a beneficial option for aural atresia in clinical applications. However, it remains unclear which placement (on the aural cartilage or mastoid) is beneficial to signal transmission. Methods This study included 35 patients (53 ears with an abnormal ear canal and severe conductive hearing loss) who were using CC hearing aids. Thresholds were compared between the transducers on the aural cartilage and on the mastoid. Results In ears with bony aural atresia, thresholds were significantly improved when the transducer was placed on the aural cartilage compared to when it was placed on the mastoid for frequencies ≤ 500 Hz (P < .05). In aural atresia ears with a fibrotic tissue pathway, the aural cartilage stimulation improved the thresholds by approximately 20 dB for frequencies ≤ 1000 Hz (P < .05). In non‐atretic ears, the aural cartilage locations significantly worsened the threshold at 4000 Hz (P < .05). Conclusion Our findings demonstrated that placing the transducer at the aural cartilage improved the mid‐to‐low frequency thresholds compared to mastoid transduction in aural atretic ears. In contrast, no clear improvement to the signal transmission due to the transducer's placement on the aural cartilage was recognized in non‐atretic ears. Level of Evidence 2

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“…If the aural cartilage vibrates, sound can be clearly heard [1,2]. This phenomenon is termed cartilage conduction, and hearing aids based on cartilage conduction [2][3][4][5] have been marketed in Japan since November 2017. When a small transducer is fixed at the entrance of the ear canal, it can generate sound via the aural cartilage into the external auditory canal (Figure 1) [6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Distinct from bone-conduction hearing aids, the cartilage conduction transducer is small and light, and contact pressure on the cartilage is very low because the cartilage is light and vibrates more easily than heavy skull bone. Indeed, the vibrations propagating through skull bone are small enough that their contribution to hearing can be ignored when the cartilage is stimulated [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibrational and Acoustical Characteristics of Ear Pinna Simulators That Differ in Hardness

2021

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Because cartilage conduction—the transmission of sound via the aural cartilage—has different auditory pathways from well-known air and bone conduction, how the output volume in the external auditory canal is stimulated remains unknown. To develop a simulator approximating the conduction of sound in ear cartilage, the vibrations of the pinna and sound in the external auditory canal were measured using pinna simulators made of silicon rubbers of different hardness (A40, A20, A10, A5, A0) as measured by a durometer. The same procedure, as well as a current calibration method for air conduction devices, was applied to an existing pinna simulator, the Head and Torso Simulator (hardness A5). The levels for vibration acceleration and sound pressure from these pinna simulators show spectral peaks at dominant frequencies (below 1.5 kHz) for the conduction of sound in cartilage. These peaks were likely to move to lower frequencies as hardness decreases. On approaching the hardness of actual aural cartilage (A10 to A20), the simulated levels for vibration acceleration and sound pressure approximated the measurements of human ears. The adjustment of the hardness used in pinna simulators is an important factor in simulating accurately the conduction of sound in cartilage.

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Cartilage Conduction Hearing and Its Clinical Application

Cited by 13 publications

References 40 publications

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

Effect of transducer placements on thresholds in ears with an abnormal ear canal and severe conductive hearing loss

Vibrational and Acoustical Characteristics of Ear Pinna Simulators That Differ in Hardness

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