What Is a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA)?
With conventional hearing aids, sound is amplified in the middle ear. On the other hand, a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) is an apparatus that is implanted surgically. It transmits sound waves straight into the cochlea, a spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear that is essential to hearing, through the bones of the skull. This device is also known as a bone-anchored hearing implant (BAI). Although BAI is the term used in medicine, people often use BAHA instead of BAI.
For those who do not qualify for regular hearing aids or have specific forms of hearing loss, a bone-anchored hearing aid may partially restore hearing.
Traditionally, a BAHA is composed of three parts:
- Titanium implant.
- External connector in place.
- Audio processing unit.
What Are the Different Types of Bone Conduction Hearing Systems?
Bone conduction hearing systems come in two primary varieties:
- Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids Implanted Surgically (BAHA): This is The most prevalent kind. A surgeon inserts a tiny titanium implant into the bone behind the ear. To get the hearing back, one can attach the external sound processor once the implant has healed. When they sleep, shower, or finish their hair, they can take the processor out of their system.
- Bone Conduction Hearing Aids Without Surgery (BCHA): For patients who prefer not to have surgery, providers usually suggest non-surgical bone conduction hearing aids (BCHA) for those under five. Certain bone conduction hearing aids use adhesive to adhere straight to the skin. Some fasten to a headband that they can wear whenever necessary.
What Are the Conditions Treated With Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA)?
BAHA hearing aids could be useful for those who have:
Hearing loss that is either mixed or conductive (when sound does not pass through the ear canal properly). One ear hears well, while the other has little to no hearing, known as single-sided deafness.
These kinds of hearing loss can be brought on by illnesses such as,
- Middle ear infections or ear canal malformations.
- Cholesteatoma (growth behind the eardrum).
- Acoustic neuroma (a noncancerous tumor from the middle ear to the brain).
- Ménière's illness (an inner ear disorder leading to spinning).
- Aural atresia is a malformation of the middle or outer ear.
- A middle ear canal infection causes persistently draining ears.
- Prolonged otitis media.
- Unexpected loss of hearing.
- Sound neuroma.
- Deafness on one side alone.
How Does Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) Work?
Bone-anchored hearing aids produce vibrations through the skull's bones that directly stimulate a functional cochlea, which is how hearing aids enhance sound. This kind of amplification eliminates the need for any device component to be inserted into the ear canal, in contrast to conventional hearing aids that transfer sound through the middle ear.
How Is the Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) Inserted?
This kind of treatment normally takes thirty to sixty minutes, depending on the kind of bone-anchored hearing device one gets.
An otolaryngologist performing bone-anchored hearing aid surgery will:
- Administer anesthetic to ensure comfort (depending on the circumstances, this may be either local or general anesthesia).
- Make a little cut or incision in the flesh just behind the ear.
- Make a little incision in the area of the skull called the mastoid bone, right behind the ear.
- Put a tiny titanium implant in the mastoid bone, just behind the ear. The diameter of the implant itself is between three and four millimeters. That equates to around half a pea's size.
- Attach a connector, or abutment, to the implant. (The skin will recover slightly around the connector because of this).
- Stitch the wound shut, then apply a surgical dressing.
- The osseointegration of bone-anchored hearing aids is essential. The bone and the titanium implant fuse together during this phase, giving stability. This fusion needs to happen before one can connect the sound processor to the external connector. The type of BAHA selected and the speed at which the body heals will determine how long it takes to heal. However, this process often takes between one and three months.
What Are the Advantages of a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA)?
Bone-anchored hearing aids have a number of benefits, such as:
- Increased Comfort: One does not need to insert anything like a typical hearing aid into the ear canal. As a result, the fit is more comfortable. It also lessens the possibility of skin inflammation.
- Ideal Audio Quality: Better sound quality is achieved since the skin will not block the bone-conducting signal.
- Improved Outcome Prediction: One can experience a nonsurgical BAHA at a consultation with the physician, so they will know what to anticipate after the surgery.
What Are the Disadvantages of Bone Anchored Hearing Aids (BAHA)?
The primary drawback of bone-anchored assistive devices is their need for surgical implantation. A minimally invasive procedure is BAHA surgery. It does, however, pose some risks, just like any surgery.
Among the potential issues are:
- Inflammation.
- Infection.
- Failure of the implant (the bone not correctly fusing to the device).
- Additionally, there can be more severe repercussions if a person using bone-anchored hearing aids experiences head trauma, such as a hit to the head. Recurrence of surgery, implant failure, or infection are examples of this. Wear a helmet when participating in contact sports or riding a bike or motorcycle to reduce the chance of suffering this kind of harm.
What Is the Recovery Time After the Surgery?
It takes three to seven days for the initial recuperation. During this period, one can experience some redness and pain near the implant site.
The BAHA hearing aid will be ready for use later. One must wait for the titanium implant to integrate with the bone. After that, the doctor will fit the external sound processor onto the implant and adjust the settings so that one can hear again. Additionally, they will demonstrate how to remove and reattach the processor correctly.
When Should One Call a Health Provider?
Notify the provider if one experiences any of the following after having bone-anchored hearing aid surgery:
- Discharge, edema, or infection at the implant site.
- Ear discomfort that is not relieved by medicine.
- Fever higher than 38.3 degrees Celsius, or 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
Conclusion
Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) provide a different approach for those with specific hearing loss because they directly transmit sound waves via the skull bone. They offer enhanced sound quality and clarity to individuals who would not benefit from conventional hearing aids. BAHAs have the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for people with hearing loss by restoring partial hearing and improving communication skills, enabling them to participate more fully in their environment.
