Sudden Single Sided Deafness
Sudden hearing loss in one ear affects thousands of people each year. This dramatically improves the perception of sound direction and hearing performance in crowded situations such as restaurants. In order for the system to work the other (contra lateral) ear must have normal or near normal hearing.
Until recently there has been no treatment available. The Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) allows these individuals to perceive sound from their non-hearing side eliminating phenomena called the “head shadow effect.” The BAHA system is a bone conducting hearing prosthesis. It is classified as a class 2 implanted device by the FDA and is not a hearing aid.
The BAHA is comprised of two subunits: a titanium Osseo integrated screw and a sound processor. The titanium screw is placed into the bone above the ear during a short procedure usually done under local anesthesia. The screw has small holes in the metal that allows growth of bone into it causing a tight union between the bone and metal. This process is called Osseo integration. The healing process takes two to six months for this Osseo integration to occur. At the end of the healing process the sound processor is attached. Sound is transmitted through the bone of the ear and skull to the delicate nerve endings of the inner ear thus producing amplified sound.
The ear and how we hear:
1= Sound waves
2 = Ear canal
3 = Eardrum
4 = Middle ear
5 = Cochlea
6 = Hearing nerve
Hearing Loss, David Foyt, MD
HearingBoneReconstruction, David Foyt, MD