What is the BAHA or Bone Anchored Hearing Aid?
Bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) is a hearing aid that relies on sound conduction through the bone. and has been in use since 1977 A surgically implanted abutment transmits sound through the bone to the inner ear bypassing the middle ear and auditory canal. BAHA is a trademark, the rights of which are owned by Cochlear.
What types of hearing loss are treated?
BAHA are primarily suitable for people with:
- Conductive hearing loss
- Unilateral hearing loss
- Mixed hearing loss where a behind the ear or in the ear aid cannot be used
People with chronic inflamation of infection of the ear canal who thus cannot ear a normal hearing aid, single sided deafness or people with absent or malformed outer ear and ear canals are best suited to BAHA's.
How is it fitted?
Most patients are able to be fitted in a single stage procedure under a local anesthetic. Most can leave after a few hours to go home. The BAHA consists of 3 parts, a titanium implant, an external abutment and a sound processor.Titanium is is accepatable to the human body, bonds with the bone and thus is an excellent material for implants.
The process is called Osseointegration, meaning the Titanium forms a permanent bond with the bone, allowing vibrations from the outside world to be transmitted to the bone structure through an external abutment.
How does it work?
The system works by enhancing natural bone transmission as a pathway for sound to travel to the inner ear, bypassing the external auditory canal and middle ear.
- The sound processor detects sounds
- The sound or vibrations are passed to an external abutment, which transfers the sound from the processor to the Titanium implant
- The implant in turn, being part of the bone behind the ear (Osseointegration) transfers the sound to the functioning cochlea allowing the person to hear external sounds.
The following diagram courtesy of Cochlear shows how the BAHA® System works:
BAHA Resources
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