VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE IMPLANT - A NEW HEARI NG PROSTHESIS FOR PATIENTS WITH SENSORINEURAL HEARING-LOSS - PART 1 - PRINCIPLE OF THE SOUNDBRIDGE SYSTEM AND INITIAL CLINICAL-RESULTS

Introduction: Patients suffering from moderate to severe cochlear hear ing impairment can not be considered for cochlear implantation on acco unt of their relatively good residual hearing. Conventional hearing ai ds, on the other hand, have considerable disadvantages which clearly l imit the benefit for these patients, e.g. feedback, sound distortion, unfavorable conditions for frequency transfer, occlusion, and recurren t infections of the auditory canal. In addition, many patients complai n about a poor speech intelligibility in noise. Vibrant Soundbridge he aring prosthesis: Implantable hearing aids offer a new approach for im proved auditory rehabilitation. The Vibrant Soundbridge system is base d on an electromagnetic system, which is linked directly to the intact ossicular chain. Due to the high sound quality and the high frequency characteristic this system is ideally suited for the above-mentioned patient group. The usual disadvantages of conventional hearing aids ca n be avoided. Externally visible is merely the audio processor, which is worn in the retroauricular area and covered by hair. This processor transfers data and power via magnetic attachment transcutaneously. Pa tient pool: During a European multicenter clinical study, 19 patients were implanted at MHH since February 1997. No significant complication s occurred. Results: In all patients, postoperative unaided pure tone threshold was unaltered in comparison with the preoperative recordings . The use of the audio processor leads to a significant functional gai n, particularly in the high frequencies. The patients report about und istorted hearing resulting in a better speech understanding even in si tuations with loud background noise. Conclusion: The preliminary resul ts show a promising new approach to the use of hearing prostheses for patients suffering from moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss.