I wear a hearing aid...
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The Baha (bone anchored hearing aid)
I have been deaf in my right ear since I was about 7 or 8 years old, after I had
the mumps. On October 14th, 2009, I underwent surgery to insert a piece of
titanium into my skull. This piece of titanium, which sticks outside of my head,
integrates into the bone over time (a process called "osseointegration"), and allows for sound to be conducted through
bone. On January 29th, 2010, I received my Baha (bone anchored hearing aid), which I can snap on and off the
external part of my titanium insert, which is called an abutment. There
are a couple of different types of Bahas available. The one that I have is
called the
Intenso. The
hearing aid, or sound processor, picks up sound vibrations on the right side of
my body and sends them through the bone to the working inner part of my left
(hearing) ear, ultimately giving me the sensation of being able to hear on my
right side. So, my left ear is working double time, to pick up sounds on both
sides of my body!
The Baha doesn't help so much with direction though. So if you are trying to get my attention (e.g., calling me from within a busy room or hallway), I will be more likely to hear you now but I still probably can't tell where you are calling me from.
Here is what the abutment looks like. (Please note: this picture is pretty "fresh"- the skin is new, so over time the redness and scarring will disappear and it will look just like my regular skin).
And here's what it looks like when I am wearing my baha.
Sometimes my baha may be covered up by my hair, sometimes not. If you are curious about it, please feel free to ask me any question you like, as I love to talk about it!
If you would like to learn more about this procedure, please check out Cochlear America, which makes the baha and other hearing solution devices (e.g., cochlear implants). The University of Maryland Medical Center has a good overview of the procedure as well.
For those who are hard of
hearing, the following links might also be of interest to you:
Society of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Nova Scotians
Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
The
Canadian Hearing Society
The
Canadian Association of the Deaf
Did
you know that that one in ten Canadians has some difficulty with
hearing?
This means about 310,000 culturally Deaf Canadians and 2.8 million hard of
hearing Canadians...
This estimate comes from the Canadian Association of the Deaf. The
association has a
position statement providing more detail about this statistic.