Bone Conduction Hearing System

What would it be like to not be able to hear – to not the wind rustling the trees, the crackling of a fire, the singing of birds, the words spoken by those around us? Although most people can hear because of the wonderful and intricate system that God has given us, there are many people who live with a reality of hearing loss and miss out on hundreds of sounds every day that we take for granted. But thankfully God has designed our bodies in such a way that some of these people can be helped by a hearing aid called a bone conduction hearing system. We will explore what it is, what kinds of hearing loss it helps, how it works, and how all of this points to the existence of a Divine Creator.

First of all, it is important to know that sound waves can travel through many other substances besides air, and thus allow us to hear as they vibrate air first, then the eardrum, which in turn vibrates the malleus, incus, stapes, and then the

Bone conduction hearing systems make use of this fact and send vibrations, via bones in the skull, to the cochlea. A bone conduction hearing system has three parts: a titanium implant, an abutment, and a sound processor. These three parts work together to transmit vibrations to the cochlea. The titanium implant is placed surgically inside the bone behind the ear. Because it is titanium, a process known as osseointegration is able to happen, where the titanium implant and the bone actually grow together, making the implant very stable and increasing the effectiveness of the device because the implant and bone are in direct contact with one another. Osseointegration is important because it prevents a fibrous capsule from forming around the implant which would impede the conduction of sound to the bone. An abutment is attached to the implant, and it projects out of the skin so that