BAHA Implant

What is a BAHA?

The system is surgically implanted and allows sound to be conducted through the bone rather than via the middle ear - a process known as direct bone conduction. A small titanium implant is implanted into the skull behind the ear where it osseointegrates with the living bone. An abutment is attached to the implant and a sound processor is clipped on. The sound processor can be worn or taken off at any time. The sound quality is greatly improved compared to traditional bone conducting hearing aids.

How Hearing Works

The ear is divided into three parts: the external ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The primary function of the outer ear or pinna is to collect and carry sounds (which are essentially vibrations) to the middle ear. Sound waves travel through the outer ear canal and strike the eardrum, which vibrates like a drum and converts the waves to mechanical energy.
This energy resonates to the middle ear, where tiny bones vibrate to the rhythm of the eardrum, amplify the sound, and pass the sound waves on to the inner ear.
The inner ear (or cochlea) is fluid-filled and lined with tiny hairs. Vibrating sound waves cause ripples in the fluid, which then bends the tiny hairs. This process converts the sound into nerve impulses, which then travel along a network of nerve cells (the auditory or eighth cranial nerve) to the brain, which perceives these impulses as sound.
We receive sound in two ways by air conduction via the ear canal, eardrum and ossicles and by bone conduction where the sound is transmitted directly through the jaw and skull bone bypassing the outer and middle ears.