Bone Anchored Hearing Aid and Bone Conduction Hearing Aid
Differences between Bone Conduction Hearing Aids and Bone Anchored Hearing Aids.
The below answer that helps us distinguish between the two comes from Megan, one of our support group members. Megan is working toward her PhD in auditory studies and happens to have Microtia and Atresia of her right ear.
Thank you for this information Megan!
Melissa
“A Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA/Baha) is considered a medical device whereas a bone conduction hearing aid is considered a “hearing aid”. While both devices directly stimulate the cochlea/inner ear, they are labeled differently for the FDA and insurance companies. A BAHA has a titanium abutment that is surgically implanted while the bone conduction hearing aid is not implanted, it looks similar to a standard air conduction hearing aid (for people with sensorineural/cochlear hearing loss). The BAHA softband is not technically a bone conduction hearing aid because of the FDA/insurance labeling. Even though the softband does not have a surgical abutment, it is the same device that is attached to the abutment.
Both devices will address the conductive hearing loss due to microtia/atresia equally. It is more a personal preference as to which device you choose to use. I suspect that the bone conduction hearing aid is cheaper because of the labeling as a hearing aid instead of a medical device.”
The below answer that helps us distinguish between the two comes from Michelle, one of our support group members who is also an audiologist.
Thanks for this helpful information Michelle!
Melissa
“From everything I know, the Bone Conduction Hearing Aid and a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid are the same. A Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid is a type of hearing aid based on bone conduction. It is primarily for people who have conductive hearing losses, unilateral hearing loss and people with mixed hearing losses who cannot otherwise wear ‘in the ear’ or ‘behind the ear’ hearing aids. The acronym Baha is a trademarked product by the Cochlear company.
Bone-anchored hearing aids use a surgically implanted abutment to transmit sound by direct bone conduction to the inner ear, bypassing the external auditory canal and middle ear. Both Cochlear and Otticon’s Baha bone conduction hearing devices utilize a bone-anchored hearing aid . Both also use a snap-lock which allows them to clip onto the implanted abutment.”
A Bone Conduction Hearing Aid on a wire head band
http://www.clivir.com/pictures/hearing_aid/boneconduct.jpg
Here is a picture of the BCHA “bone conduction hearing aid.” A BCHA is attached to a wire headband. However, you can replace the wire head band with a softer head band. Thank you to our support group member, Kristin Logsdon, for providing a picture of a BCHA.
Thank you Kristin!
Melissa
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- Sophono Alpha 1 (S) on a soft band head band
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- Cochlear BP100/BAHA3 on a soft band head band
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- Oticon Ponto Pro soft band head band
Pictured above are some options of BAHAs on softband head bands.
hi, if i have a question, can i ask it in here?
Sure. Thanks. Melissa
at the rist of totally seeming like a pathetic something or other, can somebody please tell me if the stuff i am hoping for(in the next few sentances) are completely “out there” or if they are humanly possable? since air-conduction hearingaids are 99.9% useless to me cuz my cochlea has next to no “hair-like” things left but the nerve after it that goes to my brain is fine and so is my ear-drum, i could figure out what vibration goes with what letter or noise cuz i would only feel it insted of hear it like most ppl. there maybe even a point to getting help with saying words better if i knew what vibration went with what letter i could imatate the helper better. btw, even if the Quebec gov. says no, i will still save up for wichever one(bone-conduction hearingaids or BAHAs) turns out to be the best for me… it wil just take ages to do, but i will. ALL I WANT IS TO NOT HAVE TO READ LIPS ALL THE TIME… and since the gov, sayed no to the cochear-inplant cuz of too-hi risk of dying during the operation(heart, lungs, and kidneys are too bad), these 2 new options are my last hope.