Prosthetic tooth might make nice listening to aids.
Vibrations utilized to replacements for misplaced tooth journey properly via jawbones to the inside ear, researchers report within the September Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The discovering might result in discreet alternate options to traditional listening to aids and cochlear implants that folks with listening to impairments usually use (SN: 7/7/16).
Previous tooth-based listening to aids designs clipped onto molars and acquired sound wirelessly from a microphone positioned behind the ear. Dental researcher Jianxiang Tao and colleagues need to take the idea a step additional, turning tooth implants into listening to aids. The electronics that impart sound vibrations can be constructed into the portion of a false tooth anchored into the jawbone, says Tao, of Tongji University in Shanghai.
Sign Up For the Latest from Science News
Headlines and summaries of the most recent Science News articles, delivered to your inbox
Thank you for signing up!
There was an issue signing you up.
But first, the staff needed to decide how properly dental implants transmit sound in contrast with pure tooth and the mastoid bone behind the ear, which different varieties of listening to aids depend on to work. So the researchers utilized sound tones to the implants, pure tooth and mastoid bones of 38 folks with listening to loss and a single dental implant. For a variety of frequencies, the volunteers might hear sounds via implants in addition to, or higher than, via pure tooth or mastoid bones, the staff reviews.
Front-tooth implants appeared to work barely higher than dental implants towards the again of the jaw. That could also be as a result of jawbone on the entrance of the mouth is tougher than jawbone on the again, the staff speculates. Lower tooth and implants labored in addition to uppers for transmitting sound.
Compared with conventional listening to aids, dental implant listening to aids might provide “excellent concealment, good comfort and improved quality of sound,” the researchers write.