The atresia is defined as the occlusion of a canal in the human body. In the case of hearing, we speak of a congenital disease present from birth and recorded when the external auditory canal does not develop correctly. Ear atresia is usually accompanied by malformations in both the middle ear ossicles and the external auditory pavilion and the result is usually the phearing loss.
Ear atresia, also called stenosis of the external auditory canalcauses hearing loss because due to this occlusion, in which a bony lining acts as a barrier, sound is not conducted correctly to the middle ear and the inner ear.
Depending on the degree of occlusion, we can talk about atresias of different severity. In cases of total atresia, the complete obstruction of the external orifice in the skin. The rest of the degrees are determined by the degree of narrowness of the ear canal.
Bone conduction auditory implant to treat ear atresia
The surgery It is usually the main route used to treat atresia and prevent related hearing loss. However, a bone conduction hearing implant It can also be an alternative as it is a hearing loss caused by a blockage of sound transmission through the external ear or the middle ear. In these cases, the osseointegrated implant allows you to bypass the middle ear and use vibrations to transmit sounds to the cochlea.
The way in which a bone anchored implant transmits sounds can be explained in three steps:
- The sound processor collects sound and converts it into sound vibrations.
- The processor sends these vibrations to the implant to which it is connected.
- The implant, which is attached to the bone (osseointegration), transfers these vibrations directly to the inner ear (cochlea) without passing through the outer or middle ear. Thanks to this direct connection between the sound processor and the bone through the implant, the sound is clearer, since the skin does not dampen sound vibrations.
