Name middle ear implants. How does a vibrant sound bridge work?

• Middle ear implants are:
  • Current Devices
    • Vibrant sound bridge
    • Otologics (TM) middle ear transducers
    • Esteem(R) – hearing implant
  • Devices not currently available
    • Soundtec (R) Direct Drive Hearing System
    • Semi – implantable middle ear electromagnetic hearing device
    • Rion partially implantable hearing aid
    • Totally implantable cochlear amplifier

The Vibrant sound bridge is developed by Symphonix and currently by Med-EL (Innsbruck Austria) it is an active semi-implantable hearing device. It consist of :

1. Internal surgically implanted part.The vibrating ossicular prosthesis (VORP) made up of a receiving coil, conductor link and transducer. The transducer employs a small electromagnetic coil and enclose magnet to produce vibrations in this floating mass transducer, which is couple to the long process of the incus.
2. The external audio processor.