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Published on: November 14, 2025
A piezoelectric bone-conduction bending hearing actuator
R B A Adamson1, M Bance, J A Brown
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, SENSELab, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Room 3189, Dickson Building, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H2Y9, Canada. rob.adamson@dal.ca
Abstract:
A prototype of a novel bone-conduction hearing actuator based on a piezoelectric bending actuator is presented. The device lies flat against the skull which would allow it to form the basis of a subcutaneous bone-anchored hearing aid. The actuator excites bending in bone through a local bending moment rather than the application of a point force as with conventional bone-anchored hearing aids. Through measurements of the cochlear velocity created by the actuator in embalmed human heads, the device is shown to exhibit high efficiency, making it a possible alternative to present-day electromagnetic bone-vibration actuators.
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