[Air conduction or bone conduction hearing aids? Comments on hearing aids for sound conduction deafness (author's transl)].

Measuring curves and psycho-acoustical measurements are used for an investigation of the extent to which the bone-conduction hearing aid is equivalent to the air-conduction hearing aid. It can be shown that basically there is no objection against the use of a bone-conduction hearing aid (ear-level aid) for patients suffering only from sound-conduction hearing defects. The air-conduction hearing aid significantly superior in those cases where the requirements to be met by the hearing aid with respect to the frequency range (music) are higher. If the sound conduction disorder is accompanied by a sound paralgia, this means that the essentially reduced dynamic range of the bone-conduction hearing aid significantly restricts the possible applications of the bone-conduction hearing aid.