Context
The Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) department at Command Hospital in Pune conducted two piezoelectric Bone Conduction Hearing Implants (BCI).
- It became the first government hospital across the country to procure and conduct successful piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implants.
Active Piezoelectric Bone Conduction Hearing Implant System
- It is an implantable medical electronic device for hearing impaired patients [conductive loss (including aural atresia), mixed hearing loss and single-sided deafness]
- Bone conduction implantation is the definitive hearing solution for certain groups of patients with conductive/ mixed hearing loss or patients with single sided deafness, who are not candidates for cochlear implantation and do not benefit with hearing aids or middle-ear surgery.
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Bone Conduction Implant: How it Works?
- Discovery: Bone conduction implant was discovered by Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous 18th century composer who was almost completely deaf. Beethoven found a way to hear the sound of the piano through his jawbone by attaching a rod to his piano and clenching it in his teeth.
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Eardrums (air-conducted or air-transmitted):
- The vibrations from the environment travel through the air to our eardrums.
- The eardrums in turn vibrate, decoding these sound waves into a different type of vibrations that are received by the Cochlea, also known as the inner ear.
- The Cochlea is connected to our auditory nerve, which transmits the sounds to our brain.
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Bones (bone-conducted or bone-transmitted):
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- Bone Conduction bypasses the eardrums whereby the bone conduction devices (such as headphones) perform the role of eardrums.
- These devices decode sound waves and convert them into vibrations that can be received directly by the Cochlea so the eardrum is never involved.
- The sound reach the ears as vibrations through the bones (or skull) and skin.
What is the Piezoelectricity?
- Literally it means electricity resulting from pressure and latent heat
- It is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins) in response to applied mechanical stress.
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Applications:
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- The production and detection of sound, piezoelectric inkjet printing, generation of high voltage electricity, as a clock generator in electronic devices.
- It is used in the pickups of some electronically amplified guitars and as triggers in most modern electronic drums.
- Everyday uses: Generating sparks to ignite gas cooking and heating devices, torches, and cigarette lighters.
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