The use of bone-anchored hearing aids is not possible for all patients who wear an implant-retained auricular prosthesis. For some patients, the external ear canal cannot be occluded with a conventional hearing device. Currently manufactured hearing aids may not readily fit the contours of an implant-retained auricular prosthesis. This article describes a technique that allows a modular hearing...

BACKGROUND During middle ear surgery manipulations like burring, cooling with water, suction or even screwing cause changes of temperature which should be known to the surgeon. METHOD An infrared thermovision device was introduced for registration. RESULTS Thermography is an easy way for continuously recording thermic effects during surgery. If sufficient cooling is guaranteed, no temperatu...

Patients suffering from Ménière's disease are particularly sensitive to negative pressure in the middle ear. For example, attacks of vertigo can be triggered by a descent in an aircraft when ventilation of the middle ear can become critical. Positive-pressure pulse treatment has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the symptomatology and is now a true alternative in the treatment of Ménièr...

BACKGROUND Some patients with chronic middle ear disease and multiple failed revisions, who also need a hearing aid, may benefit from an active middle ear implant. An advantage of an active middle ear implant is that the ear canal is unoccluded. METHODS Following extensive experimental development in temporal bones and investigations of various locations and attachments of a Vibrant Soundbrid...

BACKGROUND Here, we introduce our recent operative technique for ear elevation that results in (1) minimal morbidity for patients, (2) symmetric appearance, (3) clearer 3-dimensional structure with a deep concha, (4) good aesthetic appearance by hiding the grafted area behind the ear, and (5) maintenance of deep temporoauricular sulcus and angle. METHODS After a skin incision, the ear is elev...

In this paper, we proposed a new structural protective device based on a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) to protect ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) of an integrated circuit. The proposed device features latch-up immunity in a normal operation state by the low holding voltage of the existing SCR based PSD protective device. The proposed device was analyzed to figure out electrical characteristi...

OBJECTIVE Ear-EEG is recording of electroencephalography from a small device in the ear. This is the first study to compare ictal and interictal abnormalities recorded with ear-EEG and simultaneous scalp-EEG in an epilepsy monitoring unit. METHODS We recorded and compared simultaneous ear-EEG and scalp-EEG from 15 patients with suspected temporal lobe epilepsy. EEGs were compared visually by ...