BAHA for Single-Sided Deafness

 

Single Sided Deafness

Most people who develop hearing loss over time lose it in both ears equally. But some patients, for a few reasons, lose hearing in only one ear. Others have hearing loss from birth in just one ear. In some situations, I see patients who have been told that there is nothing that can be done for their unilateral hearing loss, or “single-sided deafness.”  That is definitely not the case. 

If patients have one good ear and one deaf ear, there is a surgery that can make a big difference.  It is called a “bone anchored hearing appliance,” or BAHA. 

How It Works

A BAHA is implanted into the bone behind the “bad” ear. It works by mechanical energy, under the idea that bone transmits sound. I’ve talked about that when talking about tuning forks here. It is not like a cochlear implant, which is for deafness in both ears and is implanted into the inner ear. When the BAHA processor “hears” a sound, it changes that sound energy into vibration and sends the sound to the good ear through the head bone, or cranium. Of course, now the patient can hear from both sides, but they still won’t have true “bi-directional” hearing and be able to localize a sound with their eyes closed. That said, a large amount of research has shown that patients who have a BAHA hear much better in noisy places than those with untreated single-sided deafness. Most people who have a BAHA really like it.

There are newer BAHAs that have come out in the last 5-10 years. They used to be only placed through the skin and there was a post that came out of the skin. Newer BAHAs can be placed under the skin and connect to the processor with a magnet.  

BAHA can also help in certain situations when patients can’t wear hearing aids for conductive hearing loss as well. I’ll talk more about this in another blog post.

So, in summary, if you have hearing loss, no matter how bad, or whether in both ears or just one, come see me and I’ll see what we can do to take care of you.

To learn more about how it works, watch this short video here:

 
 

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Ear, Daily Life, Highlighted PostsErin Shellenbergerhearing loss, BAHA, deafness, ear