Bone Anchored Hearing Aid

[Talking Hands]

My husband went to the ENT yesterday for a check up. He is deaf in one ear due to the failure of the implant in his middle ear. All tests indicate that there is no damage to his inner ear so the have suggested a bone anchored hearing aid. Has anyone had experience with this type of hearing aid. Does it work well. Recovery time? Side effects? Battery life? Quality of hearing?

 

[Pluto.AuD]

My husband went to the ENT yesterday for a check up. He is deaf in one ear due to the failure of the implant in his middle ear. All tests indicate that there is no damage to his inner ear so the have suggested a bone anchored hearing aid. Has anyone had experience with this type of hearing aid. Does it work well. Recovery time? Side effects? Battery life? Quality of hearing?

I haven't worked with these personally, but it should work well for him if it's strictly a conductive loss. He should be able to try out how it sounds before surgery by using the hearing aid with a head band. Not sure about recovery time, my guess would be 30 days. Battery life should be pretty good, its a good size device. Sorry I can't be of more help, but his hearing quality should be good and he should be able to try it out before surgery.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

Our daughter who is 4 and was born with malformed ears including middle ear (conduction) malformations will be getting the surgery to get one as soon as she is old enough. She currently wears a soft-band BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid). It is attached to a headband that sits against her skull and transmits the sound that way. She didn't get it until she was 2 and spent the first 2 years of her life hearing nothing. She is extremely behind on verbal communication because of that. The surgery might happen next year depending on if they think she's old enough to have her ears reconstructed or if whatever reconstruction they plan in the future would not interfere with where they would place the titanium plate on her skull. We don't know. We'd have to meet with the reconstruction team again to know for sure and that will happen shortly after her 5th birthday in February. But she hears fantastically with the soft-band BAHA. She had a cheap bone-conductive aid before that is no longer made because the company admitted they made a crummy product and it's night and day since she got the BAHA a few months ago. Her verbal is definitely getting better because she's hearing more clearly.

From what I do know, the BAHA is a fantastic product and we've been happy with it so far. There is another one on the market like it called the Ponto. Cochlear makes the BAHA. Oticon makes the Ponto. Other parents I have chatted with who have had either the soft-band like our daughter or the implant have been quite happy with it. Just and FYI though, it can't get wet so when he's in the shower or swimming, etc, he'll need to take it off. As far a battery life, we get anywhere from 10-14 days from one hearing aid battery. I don't think there are any side effects and I'm not sure about recovery time since we haven't done the surgery yet.

Hope this helps!

 

[50surgeries2012]

I'm profoundly deaf in my left ear, and my ENT specialist at OHSU highly recommended a bone-anchored hearing aid. It is a GODSEND for me. I love it so much. The surgery to install the screw didn't take too long, and I was able to recover from it quickly after having undergone 48 surgeries previously before that.

I can say that the bone-anchored hearing aid (a,k.a. "BAHA") is 100 times better than a standard in-the-ear hearing aid, or a behind-the-ear hearing aid. The sound processor itself snaps onto the screw that is surgically implanted into your skull almost like a magnet, and it is so powerful for a hearing aid.

The only downside I've experienced with it is that I've had to change the batteries every other day due to the hearing aid shutting itself off, and then coming back on. I don't know why this is. But, the Cochlear representative that I've spoken with who helped me figure out m,y BAHA sound processor the first month I've had it, had told me that it usually does that because the battery is weak.

The sound processor also doesn't give as much feedback noise as a standard hearing aid would. That's what I love about it. I also have another bone conduction hearing aid similar to the BAHA sound processor that I wear like a headband on my head.

 

[Pluto.AuD]

I feel the need to write a disclaimer about the Baha. It is for specific kinds of hearing loss only (single sided deafness,mixed, and conductive hearing loss. The reason it works so well is because it is bypassing the middle ear system which is causing the hearing loss, and sending sounds directly to the inner ear, which usually has normal to moderate hearing loss. However, if the hearing loss is sensorineural, or caused by the inner ear, then the Baha would be inappropriate for that kind of hearing loss.

It's best to talk with your audiologist or ENT about what kind of hearing loss you have and the best device for you.