Morimoto Chihiro, Nishimura Tadashi, Hosoi Hiroshi, Saito Osamu, Fukuda Fumi, Shimokura Ryota, Yamanaka Toshiaki
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Nara Medical University, Nara, Japan.
J Rehabil Res Dev. 2014;51(2):325-32. doi: 10.1682/JRRD.2013.05.0128.
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.
一种利用软骨传导（CC）的助听器已被提议作为骨传导（BC）助听器的替代品。为该应用开发的换能器重量轻，与骨传导助听器相比所需的固定力小得多，并且使用起来更方便。软骨传导对纤维性耳道闭锁患者可能有很大益处。与听小骨相连的纤维组织为声音通过软骨传导到达耳蜗提供了一条额外的途径（称为纤维组织途径）。为了研究纤维组织途径的功能，对6只患有纤维性耳道闭锁的耳朵测量了骨传导和软骨传导阈值。研究了软骨传导阈值与计算机断层扫描结果之间的关系。在存在纤维组织途径的耳朵中，在0.5和1.0千赫兹时软骨传导阈值低于骨传导阈值。在2.0千赫兹时，骨传导和软骨传导阈值之间未观察到显著差异。目前的研究结果表明，在低频到中频范围内，声音通过纤维组织途径经软骨传导比经骨传导传播得更有效。使用软骨传导的听力设备的开发有助于康复，特别是对于纤维性耳道闭锁患者。
