Hearing Loss Education Center

Connecting people to a world of sound
 
Hearing & Hearing Loss Screening & Testing Treatment with Hearing Aids Advanced Treatments for Hearing Loss What is a Cochlear Implant? What is Baha? How Does Baha Work? Candidates for Baha The Process of Acquiring a Baha Implant Insurances & Rehabilitation Daily Life with Baha Communication & Language Choosing the Right Treatment Resources Request Product Information
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Candidates for Baha

Baha for Conductive or Mixed Hearing Loss

If you have a conductive or mixed hearing loss and wonder if you might be a candidate for the Baha System, ask yourself the following questions:

  • When using traditional or CROS hearing aids, do you have:
    • Problems getting sufficient loudness or clarity?
    • Trouble with feedback, squeal, whistles, or distorted sound quality?
    • Do you have sore or irritated ears due to wearing large earmolds, or head discomfort from the pressure of a bone vibrator?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a candidate for a Baha implant. If you would like to learn more about the Baha System, request a copy of the Baha candidate guide.

Baha for Single Sided Deafness (SSD)

Single sided deafness (SSD) means a unilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss with normal hearing in the other ear.  This can result from many different causes including a congenital birth defect, physical damage or trauma to the ear, infections, tumors, or surgical procedures in or near the ear.

When a person has single sided deafness, they have particular difficulty with:

  • Identifying the direction from which a sound is coming.
  • Separating speech from background noise, especially in group conversations or settings like noisy restaurants.
  • Hearing well when sound is on the dead ear side (due to the "head shadow" effect).
  • Learn more about Baha for single sided deafness in the table below.

Keep in mind that the Baha System is not appropriate for:

  • People who can be effectively treated with traditional hearing aids
  • People with purely sensorineural hearing loss in both ears 
  • People who have physical or mental disabilities that result in their being unable to learn how to use, clean, and maintain the Baha System components.

In the United States, Baha implantation is only cleared by the FDA for children 5 years of age or older.  However, younger children can wear the Baha Sound Processor with a removeable softband (headband) until they are old enough for implantation.

There are two medical devices available for the treatment of single sided deafness
Neither restores hearing on the deaf side, but they can improve the user’s perception of sound by broadening the perceptible sound field.

  • The Baha System – a multi-part system with implant, abutment, and sound processor; gathers sound from the side of the deaf ear and transmits it via bone conduction to the functioning cochlea of the hearing ear.  In this system, nothing occludes either ear canal and no device needs to be placed on the normal ear.
  • CROS (contralateral routing of sound) hearing aids – an air-conduction hearing aid that places a hearing aid on the side of the deaf ear to gather sound, then transmit it through a wire or wirelessly via radio signal to a hearing aid placed on or in the normal ear. 


 

Treatment Device Advantages Disadvantages

Baha System (with implant)
  • Patient can try the Baha device to evaluate benefits before having the surgery.
  • Provides hearing for sounds coming from deaf ear side.
  • High-fidelity sound via direct bone conduction transmission.
  • Good ear remains open, optimizing existing hearing
  • Sound processor is worn behind ear and may be hidden by hair
  • No need to wear connecting headband, earmold or wire (as with CROS or conventional bone conduction or power air conduction aids).
  • Requires outpatient surgery to place the implant.

CROS hearing aid (no implant)
  • Provides hearing for sounds coming from deaf ear side
  • No need for surgical procedure
  • Hearing aid earmold worn in good ear can impair existing hearing
  • Cords, wires and earmolds can be cumbersome, cause physical discomfort, and detract from user’s appearance
  • Sound quality may be poor due to the use of an acoustic amplifier  


  
   

Hearing Loss

For hearing loss, refers to less than average ability to hear and understand sounds due to one or more parts of the hearing system not working properly.

Hearing Loss

For hearing loss, refers to problems hearing in both ears, not just one.

Hearing Loss

For hearing loss, refers to problems hearing in one, but not both ears

Mild Hearing Loss

People with mild hearing loss have some difficulty following speech, mainly in noisy situations; quietest sounds they can hear in their better ear average between 25 and 39 decibels (a standard measure of sound)

Moderate Hearing Loss

People with moderate hearing loss have difficulty following speech without a hearing aid; quietest sounds they can hear in their better ear average between 40 and 69 decibels (a standard measure of sound).

Severe Hearing Loss

People with severe hearing loss get help from powerful hearing aids, but often rely on lip-reading even when using an aid; quietest sounds they can hear in their better ear average between 70 and 89 decibels (a standard measure of sound).

Profound Hearing Loss

People with profound hearing loss mostly rely on lip-reading and/or sign language; the quietest sounds heard in their better ear average from 90 decibels or louder (a standard measure of sound).

Otosclerosis

A disease in which bone grows abnormally in the middle ear preventing structures within the ear from working properly and causing hearing loss.

Cochlea

Part of the ear that contains both the organ of hearing (the cochlea) and the organ of balance (the labyrinth).

Feedback

A high-pitched, sometime painful, whistling sound that occurs when a microphone picks up sound from a nearby speaker and replays it again and again (commonly occurs when a poorly fitting hearing aid earmold allows sound to “leak” from the speaker back into the microphone).

Assisstive Listening Devices

Electronic devices or accessories for hearing aids that provide extra help in specific listening situations (telephone, noisy backgrounds, small or large group settings, etc.).

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss due to failure of the auditory nerve, also called nerve deafness.

Mastoid Bone

A portion of the lower skull bone that contains the inner ear.

Rehabilitation

For individuals who previously experienced hearing and get a cochlear implant, the comprehensive training program that “re-teaches” them how to hear and interpret sounds, to recover any lost speech skills, and to properly use the cochlear implant speech processor and controls.

Habilitation

For individuals who had not previously experience hearing and get a cochlear implant, the comprehensive training program that teaches them to hear and interpret sounds, to develop or improve speech skills, and to properly use the cochlear implant speech processor and controls.

Coverage

For health insurance, coverage involves making sure a health plan or policy pays for the cochlear implant device and related professional services (for example, physician and audiology services). Usually, you go through a preauthorization process. This means getting a guarantee from the health insurance plan that they will pay for the implant and services before getting treatment.

Billing

For health insurance, billing involves the process by which health care providers charge, code, and submit their bills (in the form of a claim) to the health insurance company or plan.

Payment

For health insurance, payment involves getting the full amount allowed for services given a health plan’s limitations, allowables, deductibles, and co-payments.

Menieres

A disorder of the fluid volume of the inner ear that can cause hearing loss, dizziness/vertigo, tinnitus (ringing in the ear), and/or pressure or pain in ear.

Meningitis

a viral or bacterial infection that causes inflammation and swelling of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord; among possible serious complications are hearing loss or deafness.

Mumps

a viral infection that causes swelling of the salivary glands; sometimes spreads to central nervous system which can result in hearing loss.

Measles

a viral infection that causes rash, fever, and cold-like symptoms; sometimes causes complications like ear or brain infections which can result in hearing loss.

Unilateral

on one side, but not the other; used to describe a type of hearing loss in which there is normal or somewhat impaired hearing in one ear and little or no hearing in the other ear.

Unilateral Hearing Loss

condition in which one ear has little or no hearing ability and the other ear has normal or close to normal hearing. Also referred to as Single Sided Deafness (SSD).

Osseointegration

the natural process of bone growing into the titanium fixtures creating a direct connection between an artificial implant and living bone.