Single sided deafness, or the loss of hearing in one ear, affects a comparatively small percentage of the population… about 200 in every million.  That’s not a lot of people. 

But it’s enough.

In fact it amounts to 1.5 million people afflicted across the world.  That’s a city the size of Birmingham.

The loss of “stereo hearing” can have dangerous consequences, especially while crossing a street, or in other mobile environments. However, Sonitus Medical, a privately held medical company that specialises in treating single sided deafness, has created a new device, SoundBite, which uses the natural conduction of our teeth and bones for transmitting sound waves to the inner ear – even if the middle and outer ear parts are damaged.

It’s ingenious.

Here’s how it works:

SoundBite can detect noise vibrations by using a microphone that is placed in the ear, and is connected to a transmitter device behind the ear. The BTE (behind-the-ear) device then transmits to an ITM (in-the-mouth) device that sends the sound waves through the jawbone to the cochlea (the snail-shaped tube in the inner ear). No surgery is required, and both the devices can easily be removed and charged inductively.

Sonitus Medical is in the process of preparing SoundBite for FDA trials for single sided deafness, and possibly, eventually treating other types of deafness too.

Of course, the concept is not entirely new. Other hearing aids have also been known to utilise bone conduction for transmitting sound waves. But most of them, however, use titanium pins that are drilled into the jaw bones (or even skulls) for transmitting sounds to the inner ear. SoundBite’s digital hearing aid appears to be the first non-invasive, non-surgical, and easily removable device developed for the mass market.

A Note of Caution: While the hearing aid reviews may be encouraging, SoundBite is probably still years away from retail production. Sonitus Medical plans to eventually have these ITM devices fitted to an individual’s back teeth, and custom made fairly quickly (in 1-2 weeks). A complete hearing aid system would include 2 ITMs, 1 BTE device, and a charger.  We hope to include more information about Soundbite on our sister site, MobilityCompare, as and when we hear more information.

If you consider all forms of cochlear implants, the SoundBite devices may be fit only for comparatively specialised use. Nevertheless, the ability to easily upgrade/ replace the individual components of these systems makes Sonitus Medical’s device quite competitive.

Who knows, perhaps Bluetooth headsets of the future may be developed based on the cutting-edge hearing aid technologies of today Whatever the answer, Sonitus’ plans are very, very welcome for the hundreds of thousands of single sided deafness sufferers worldwide.

Uisng teeth as a hearing aid?  SoundBite can……

teeth