Bone conduction implants

What is a bone conduction implant?

Most people with hearing loss use standard hearing aids which make sounds louder and send them through the ear canal and middle ear to the inner ear (cochlea) where the hearing nerves are.

But some people may not be able to hear well via this process. There may be problems with the outer or middle ear, or one ear may not function at all. In these instances, sound needs to take a different path to the inner ear in order to bypass these hearing roadblocks.

And that’s where bone conduction plays such a vital role.

Did you know that the body can naturally hear sounds via two ways? These are called air conduction and bone conduction. The process of air conduction involves sound moving through your ear canal and middle ear to your inner ear (cochlea). The process of bone conduction involves sound moving through bone. And because the hearing pathway is surrounded by bone, sound can bypass the outer and middle ear and be sent directly to the inner ear. To experience bone conduction, simply tap your head gently (can you hear a ‘thud’ sound?). You may also remember having a bone conduction hearing test, which is where a tuning fork is help against the bone behind your hear or between your teeth.

For people with outer or middle ear trouble, or who are deaf in one ear, Cochlear's Baha System, is the most effective way to provide hearing.

Instead of trying to send sound through the damaged part of the ear, a bone conduction implant uses the body’s natural ability to send sound through bone, bypassing the outer and middle ear completely. The result is a clean, clear sound without the distortion or feedback often associated with standard hearing aids.

Who can Baha help?

Bone conduction implants can help people who have:

• Single Sided nerve hearing loss - total hearing loss on one side
• Conductive hearing loss (problems with the outer ear, middle ear or canal that stops sound going to the inner ear)
• Mixed hearing loss

How does it work?

1. A sound processor captures sounds and converts them into vibrations.
2. A connecting abutment transfers the sound vibrations from the sound processor to the titanium implant
3. The small titanium implant is placed in the bone behind the ear where it fuses with the bone to form a very strong bond. The implant transfers the sound vibrations through the bone directly to the cochlea, bypassing the outer or middle ear completely.
4. These sound vibrations cause the fluid in the inner ear to move hair cells and send sound signals to the brain. We then hear sound.

You can trial Baha without having surgery

Unlike other hearing implants, you can trial Baha before making the decision to proceed with surgery. The sound processor is connected to a test band, test rod or Baha Softband, allowing you to instantly experience the difference a Baha can make to your hearing.

Baha Softband

So find a clinic where you can trial a Baha today >

What are the benefits of a bone conduction implant?

• 90% of users would recommend Baha to someone with similar hearing loss¹
• 89% of users prefers Baha to standard hearing aids²
• Have greater confidence in social situations
  Speak more clearly and understand speech more easily without relying on lip-reading
• Can focus hearing in noisy environments
  Across meeting tables, in restaurants and other crowded places
• Experience fewer ear infections
  Because the Baha system uses your body's natural ability to send sound through bone there is no need to wear ear moulds in the ear canal. The ear canal remains unblocked which helps to reduce the risk of middle ear infections.
• Enjoy sound on the deaf side
  The sensation of hearing sounds coming from both sides
• Feel safer in the world
  Hear alarms, people calling out and approaching vehicles and know where they are.

Read or watch stories from parents of children with bone conduction implants
Find out more about Cochlear Bone conduction products
Steps to getting a Bone conduction implan

¹ Kunst SJW, Hol MwKS, Snik AFM, Bosman AJ, Mylanus EAM, Cremers CWRJ. Baha in patients with acquired and congenital unilateral inner ear deafness. Otol Neurotol. 2007

² Hol MK, Snik AF, Mylanus EA, Cremers CW. Long-term results of bone-anchored hearing aid recipients who had previously used airconduction hearing aids. Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery 2005;131 (4): 321-5