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 titanium implant over time naturally integrates with the skull bone. For hearing, the sound processor transmits sound vibrations through the external abutment to the titanium implant. The vibrating implant sets up vibrations within the skull and inner ear that finally stimulate the nerve fibers of the inner ear, allowing hearing.

Who is a Candidate for the BAHA System?

In most cases, hearing impaired people will be fitted with air conduction devices. These are placed inside the ear canal or behind the ear. However, some hearing impaired people are unable to benefit from this type of device. They may have a congenital deformity wherein there is no functioning ear canal in which the hearing aids can be fitted or may have a chronic ear infection in the middle or the outer ear that is made worse when a hearing aid is worn. Also patients with inner ear insufficiency on one side and a conductive deafness on the other side where there is a potential risk of making the only functioning cochlea unusable by ear surgery will benefit from the implant.

Another condition is single sided deafness which may be due to surgery, trauma or disease and which leaves the individual with no hearing on one side. Patients with severe hearing loss on one side, but normal hearing in the other ear have difficulty understanding speech in background noise (such as group conversations and restaurants) and determining which direction sound comes from. The BAHA device is placed on the side of the deaf ear and effectively transmits sounds from the bad side to the normal ear and ultimately results in a sensation of hearing from a deaf ear. Stereo hearing results in improved understanding of speech, especially in background noise and aids in the localization of sound.

BAHA for children

Children born with malformations of the outer and middle ear can still have perfect inner ear function. Hearing is a vital part of a child’s learning process and is therefore of utmost importance to start the stimulation of speech and linguistic development as early as possible. Children’s skulls are thinner and softer than an adult’s. Therefore it is advisable to wait until the child is 5 years old. In children the procedure has to be staged. In the first stage the implant is fitted to the bone and after osseointegration which is slightly longer than for adults the abutment will be placed.