Bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) |
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While the majority of people who suffer from hearing loss can be helped with hearing aids, for some, hearing aids don’t provide the benefit needed. For those people with a conductive, mixed hearing loss, people where only one ear has a profound hearing loss or those who cannot wear hearing aids due to chronic ear infections. Conductive hearing loss occurs when sound is not conducted efficiently through the outer ear canal to the eardrum and the tiny bones, or ossicles, of the middle ear. Mixed hearing loss is the condition where there is both damage in the outer or middle ear and in the inner ear (cochlea) or auditory nerve. A bone-anchored hearing aid is a system where sound is picked up by an external sound processor and transferred directly through the bone to the inner ear, bypassing the outer and middle ear. The device is placed on the deaf side and picks up sound from this side and transfers it by direct bone conduction to the working cochlea. Unlike a hearing aid, the BAHA system does not rely on sound amplification to improve hearing, therefore hearing performance may be much better than what was experienced with a hearing aid. It is a very natural sound. The system requires a small titanium fixture to be implanted in the skull behind the ear where it osseointegrates with living bone (becomes one with bone), the same process that secures dental implants. The surgical procedure is considered minor and can in some cases be performed under local anesthesia. After osseointegration, approximately 3 months for adults and 6 months for children, an abutment is attached to the fixture and a sound processor is clipped on. The BAHA system has no components in the ear canal which greatly benefits those who have chronic ear infections or who are dissatisfied with devices that rest in the ear canal. A unique feature is that one can test the device prior to implantation. Next step? Call for an appointment. |
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