A Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a specialized hearing solution for individuals who cannot benefit from traditional hearing aids. Instead of amplifying sound through the ear canal, a BAHA transmits sound vibrations directly to the inner ear through the bone, bypassing the outer and middle ear.
How It Works
We hear sound in two main ways:
- Air conduction (through the ear canal to the eardrum and inner ear)
- Bone conduction (through bones like the mastoid, cheekbones, or teeth)
A BAHA uses bone conduction by picking up environmental sound, converting it into vibrations, and sending it through the skull bone to the inner ear.
Who Can Benefit?
BAHA may be an excellent option for patients who:
- Have chronic ear infections or fluid buildup
- Have undergone middle ear surgery
- Experience single-sided deafness
- Cannot wear traditional hearing aids effectively
Types of BAHA Devices
- Screw-Based BAHA
Surgically implanted screw behind the ear allows the device to snap on and transmit vibrations directly through the bone. - Magnet-Based BAHA
A magnet is placed under the skin during surgery, allowing the device to attach externally without visible hardware—ideal for active lifestyles or cosmetic preferences.
Modern Features
- Bluetooth connectivity for streaming music, calls, and media directly from your phone.
- Smartphone app for volume and setting control.
- In-office demonstration with our SoundArc system to try the technology before surgery.
Considering a BAHA?
If you think a BAHA might be right for you, schedule a consultation with our audiologists. We’ll assess your hearing needs, walk you through your options, and provide a personalized demonstration.
Contact us today to learn more.
TRANSCRIPT
“Hey everyone, it’s Dr. Shopovick, and today we’re going to be reviewing what a bone-anchored hearing aid is, also referred to as a BAHA.
Before we go into the device itself, I did just want to review the two ways in which we hear sound. The first is through our ear canals—so sound coming in from our environment goes through our ear canals straight to the eardrum and sends it to the inner ear, and that’s what a traditional hearing aid is helping with. On the other hand, we can also hear through some bones that we have, one of them being the mastoid bone, which is located right behind your ears on both sides, and then we can also hear through our teeth and cheekbones.
So if you’ve ever seen those bone conduction headphones that people are wearing right at their cheeks, you can actually stream music and do all of those cool things through that bone. So that’s kind of what a bone-anchored hearing aid is doing—it’s sending sound from our environment through the BAHA, which vibrates our mastoid bone and then sends those signals to our inner ear, so it’s kind of bypassing the middle ear part.
This is a great solution for individuals who maybe have chronic fluid in their ears where a traditional hearing aid just isn’t the best option, or if an individual has had a certain middle ear surgery, or if a patient has single-sided deafness.
So there’s a few candidacy criteria for this, and it is a great option for those where a traditional hearing aid just may not be the best fit for them. I have two devices here that I want to show you today. The first one is the most traditional BAHA—this is what it looks like on the head. If I take the device off, there is a little screw right there.
So in order to get a BAHA, it does require a surgery. For this one, the surgeon kind of goes in and creates a hole punch through our bone, almost like that, and this is what it looks like from the outside. So there will be a screw there, and then you have your BAHA device that snaps onto the screw just like that. Sound is going to come in, it’s going to go through this device, and then send sound vibrations into our inner ear, completely bypassing our middle ear.
The second BAHA is one that has a magnet instead of the screw like the other one. If I take this off, you’re not going to see anything on the head. For this, the surgeon is going to open up the flap of skin and place a magnet underneath the skin, and then for the BAHA device there’s going to be a magnet there and it kind of just sticks on like that. This is a great option for those who may be a little bit more active or don’t like the idea of having a screw sitting right there on the back of their head.
These devices come with Bluetooth, so you can stream music or anything that you stream from your phone—it can go through to these devices. There’s also an app that you can download on your smartphone that works as a remote control, and there is a demo that your audiologist can do in the office.
This is called our SoundArc, so if you feel like this might be a good solution for you, we can do an in-office demonstration where we program a BAHA according to your hearing loss, we snap it on here, and then you kind of wear this around your head so you can get a feel for what an actual BAHA would sound like. But if you guys have any more questions or if you think you may be a candidate for this, it’s always good to schedule a BAHA evaluation to see if this would be a good solution for you.
So if you have any questions or think you may be a candidate, you can always call our clinic and we’d be more than happy to help you over the phone. Thank you for listening today, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!”
