Bone Conduction Devices

If you have hearing loss due to sounds being blocked (conductive hearing loss) on the way to the inner ear, you may benefit from a bone conduction device. This is a medical device that creates a different path for sound waves to get to the inner ear, by bypassing the outer and middle parts of the ear. Bone conduction devices can be worn so that the whole system is on the outside, or some parts can be surgically implanted.

Bone conduction devices are best suited for people with conductive or mixed hearing losses who cannot hearing aids. Sometimes, people may use a bone conduction device when there’s no hearing in one ear.

Many health insurance companies pay for aspects of these devices, therefore, we have a device coordinator on staff who will work with you to determine what is/is not covered after our multidisciplinary evaluation and recommendation. In general, the “medically necessary” parts and procedures are covered for people who meet candidacy criteria, but other features, such as those for connectivity and convenience, may not be.

We use bone conduction devices from Cochlear (Australia), MedEl (Austria) and Oticon Medical (Denmark).

Our Team

The care team at Mass. Eye and Ear is comprised of pediatric and adult skull base surgeons, otologists, audiologists and speech-language pathologists.