Bone conduction is also the basis of some of the oldest, simplest, and most useful tests in the repertoire of the otologist.
If the difference between bone conduction and air conduction for both ears was ≤10 dB at all frequencies for either ear, then the figure for bone conduction was attributed to both ears, and masking was not attempted (four subjects).
Participants were able to hear their own speech, although as the earphones were noise reducing, the balance between air conduction and bone conduction was altered.
For the cleaned dataset in the remaining 17 subjects, the unmasked bone conduction was compared with the air conduction in the better hearing ear.
For the remaining 37 subjects, separate measurements of air conduction in each ear (0.25 8 kHz), and unmasked bone conduction (0.5 4 kHz), were obtained (in one subject with normal hearing, bone conduction was not obtained but was assumed equal to air conduction in the better hearing ear).
The makers of Audio Bones also assert that bone conduction is less likely to contribute to hearing loss over the years, and that this technology permits some people with eardrum damage to enjoy music once again.
(Bone conduction is already available in certain hearing aids).
In sensorineural hearing loss, the thresholds for both air conduction and bone conduction are affected such that the air-bone gap (air conduction minus bone conduction) is close to zero.
Hearing tests carried out with either a tuning fork or an audiometer demonstrate that the hearing by bone conduction is better than by air conduction.
Bone conduction is an odd beast and, frankly, it freaks me out, which is why I was hesitant to use the Audio Bone headphones for a few days.
