New generation of hearing aids implanted in Bruges for the first time

The hearing aid now implanted uses vibration technology, which microphones, loudspeakers and medical equipment already use.

The sound processor, which is still on the outside, picks up sounds and speech and transmits them amplified to the implant, which is attached to the bone subcutaneously. This is done via a wireless connection. The implant causes vibrations in the bone of the skull and thus directly stimulates the cochlea in the ear.

Significant improvement

“The result is a significant improvement for patients with conductive hearing loss, where sound cannot travel properly through the ear canal and middle ear to the inner ear,” says AZ Sint-Jan. It also offers a solution for mixed hearing loss, which means there is a problem with both sound transmission and the functioning of the cochlea itself, and single-sided deafness.

Such a hearing aid has not often been implanted in our country, it was even the first time for our province.