Getting a BAHA!

[rEliseMe]

So my dad's boss caught some sort of virus or something a few months ago and ended up with SSSD (Sudden Single-Sided Deafness). Unfortunately, he didn't go in soon enough to try any treatments (like antioxidants or whatever ENTs try in an emergent situation). Today, I got word he's decided to get a BAHA and is very excited about it!

Anyone else ever known someone who went through the process of getting a BAHA? How'd it go?

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[AUDball2012]

I have fit a BAHA or 2 for SSD and they loved them! In fact I was there for all the follow ups and everything with one of the patients and every time she came in she was happier with it than the last time. The only problem she had was skin irritation around the abutment.

 

[cmc271]

There is an employee at the VA where I have clinic this semester who has one on his right side and still uses a BTE on the left. He loves his BAHA and was telling me the other day he is very interested in going bilateral and getting one on the left as well.

 

[rEliseMe]

There is an employee at the VA where I have clinic this semester who has one on his right side and still uses a BTE on the left. He loves his BAHA and was telling me the other day he is very interested in going bilateral and getting one on the left as well.

I'm curious about how that would work... he wouldn't actually get two outer appliances, right? Coudn't he just get a CROS-type receiver on the non-BAHA side and have it transmit to the BAHA?

 

[rEliseMe]

I have fit a BAHA or 2 for SSD and they loved them! In fact I was there for all the follow ups and everything with one of the patients and every time she came in she was happier with it than the last time. The only problem she had was skin irritation around the abutment.

What kind of remedies are there for that irritation? Was she just wearing it too long during the day, or could it be an allergy-type thing?

 

[AUDball2012]

What kind of remedies are there for that irritation? Was she just wearing it too long during the day, or could it be an allergy-type thing?

Well the hardest part (or so I have heard) is keeping the abutment clean...after all it is in a place that is hard to see and its small. So we gave her these pipe cleaner looking things that are used to clean them, but then we just made note of it for the ENT because he is in charge of all things medical with her BAHA and I believe he gave her some skin cream of sorts.

 

[cmc271]

I'm curious about how that would work... he wouldn't actually get two outer appliances, right? Coudn't he just get a CROS-type receiver on the non-BAHA side and have it transmit to the BAHA?

From what he was describing, he actually wants a second device/abutment on the other side

 

[Dustbug10]

A classmate of mine doing a rotation in Atlanta told me about a new company that makes BAHA's with magnets rather than abutments. Sophono I believe it is called? I assume that would remedy the skin irritation..

 

[cmc271]

A classmate of mine doing a rotation in Atlanta told me about a new company that makes BAHA's with magnets rather than abutments. Sophono I believe it is called? I assume that would remedy the skin irritation..

Yeah they just got FDA approval June 1 for ages 5 and up. I started a thread about them a week or two ago. Their website has some good information about the product. I find it very intriguing.