Is there loss of vibration amplitude across the snap coupling of the bone-anchored hearing aid?

Hypothesis: There is loss of vibration transmission across the snap coupling connecting the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid transducer to the implanted abutment on the head.

Background: The only nonrigid part of the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid system is the connection between the output of the transducer and the abutment. Vibration losses across the coupling have not been previously measured. If a loss is found, a change in design could improve the efficiency of the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid. This would be very helpful in borderline cases in which the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid does not have enough power to achieve adequate hearing threshold levels.

Methods: A laser Doppler vibrometer was used to measure vibrations on the output stem and four points on the abutment of the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid. The Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid was coupled to a dry skull through a plexiglas bite bar screwed to the skull. The impedance load was varied by fixing the skull. A control loose coupling was measured. Five Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid Compacts were measured.

Results: There was little loss across the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid snap coupling. At frequencies above 500 Hz, there was no more than 5-dB loss at any frequency. Changing the impedance load by fixing the skull did not change the loss across the coupling.

Conclusion: The snap coupling is an efficient means of transmitting vibrations to the skull. There is little loss of vibration attenuation across it. Increases in functional Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid amplification gain cannot be achieved by further optimizing this interface.