An objective bone conduction verification tool using a piezoelectric thin-film force transducer

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices

Background:

• Objective verification methods are crucial for hearing aid fittings.
• Current methods for air conduction hearing aids lack direct counterparts for bone conduction (BC) devices.
• There is a need for reliable, objective verification techniques for BC hearing aids.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel objective verification method for bone conduction hearing aids.
• To compare the proposed method with existing techniques like the ear canal and artificial mastoid methods.
• To assess the audibility estimation accuracy of the new BC hearing aid verification technique.

Main Methods:

• A piezoelectric thin-film force transducer was integrated between the BC transducer and the stimulation point.
• Audibility estimation was performed using transducer responses correlated with individual BC hearing thresholds and pink noise.
• The force transducer method was compared against the ear canal and artificial mastoid methods using 20 hearing-impaired subjects.

Main Results:

• The force transducer method and the ear canal method produced highly consistent results.
• The artificial mastoid method showed significant deviations compared to the other two methods.
• The proposed force transducer method demonstrated lower noise levels and reduced susceptibility to sound field interference.

Conclusions:

• The piezoelectric thin-film force transducer presents a promising in-situ objective measurement for BC stimulation.
• This new method offers a reliable and less noisy alternative for BC hearing aid verification.
• The findings support the clinical utility of this force transducer-based approach for BC hearing aid fittings.