On March 22, 2024, in the clinic of Otolaryngology of the USK in Bialystok, an operation was performed to implant the first innovative middle ear implant in Podlasie.
It was a BONEBRIDGE hearing implant system used in conductive and mixed hearing loss.
During the operation, instructional support was provided to the Bialystok physicians by Prof. dr hab. Piotr Skarżyński, Director for Science and Development of the Sensory Organs Institute of the World Hearing Centre in Kajetany.
The patient is a 66-year-old man suffering from chronic inflammation of the middle ear.
"He had already been operated on three times at the Otolaryngology Clinic due to his illness," explains Dr Paweł Bielecki, from the Otolaryngology Clinic. "The man could hardly hear anything in one of his ears. As his middle ear was damaged, this operation was the only way to restore his hearing. The implant consists of two components. The inner part was inserted today during the surgery. He will receive the outer part from us once the wound has healed in about four weeks. Then he will be able to assess the effects of our measures. But we already know that he will be able to hear."
In the proper hearing process, vibrations are transmitted through the outer and middle ear to the inner ear. In the case of conductive or mixed hearing loss, sounds cannot effectively reach the inner ear - the receptor - due to damage to one of the ear's structures. The BONEBRIDGE implant bypasses the damaged part of the ear and sends sounds directly to the inner ear via the skull bone. For people with single-sided deafness, the BONEBRIDGE system picks up sounds on the deaf side and transmits them to the inner ear on the hearing side. This is a new generation of hearing technology, where the implant is placed completely under the skin. Thanks to a sound microprocessor, held on the skin by a magnet, it is possible to process sounds into signals, which are then transmitted to the implant, which converts these signals into mechanical vibrations that are conducted to the inner ear, allowing patients to perceive sound.
With the BONEBRIDGE, patients with middle ear damage and conductive and mixed hearing loss can experience a significant improvement in quality of their lives. The implant not only offers improved sound quality, but also wearing comfort, minimising the risk of infection and other complications associated with traditional hearing devices.
