gms | German Medical Science

The implantable hearing aids are nowadays an inseparable part of modern Otology and Audiology clinics. In principle, an active prosthesis, which is driven through the appropriate signal processing, is implanted in the middle ear system. In this way the patients could achieve a better acoustical recognition and speech perception with an open auditory ear canal at the same time.

In this study 11 patients out of 46 patients, who were implanted with an implanted hearing device (Vibrant^® Sound bridge MED’EL) at the Otolaryngology Department of Medical University of Hanover, are revaluated with several audiological tests. The postoperative observation time averages 6.6 years.

Results indicate a hearing profit of 28 dB max. gain on average. At one-syllabic-speech tests the patients could achieve a 27% improvement of speech intelligibility with the VSB-system. The results of Multi frequency Tympanometry revealed that Vibrent Ossicular Prosthesis (VORP) hasn’t any significant influences on normally resonance frequency of the middle ear, which is between 800 to 1200 Hz.

In the case of a correct patient’s recruitment the implantable hearing devices present a good hearing profit, a high qualified speech perception with more comfort.