It is crucial to visit an Audiologist or Ear Nose and Throat specialist when you, or your child, experience a hearing loss. Potential candidates can be referred to, or contact Southern ENT to connect you with your nearest Baha team. It is crucial that people considering a Baha be evaluated by a specialised and experienced Baha team.
Potential candidates have to undergo a series of medical tests to ensure they comply with the clinical criteria to benefit from a Baha. The surgery is performed by specialized Ear Nose and Throat Surgeons and is preceded by the intervention of a multi professional team that could include:
Early implantation is of utmost importance if somebody was born with a hearing disability as it influences the child’s ability to develop spoken language and adapt in a main stream school. There is nothing worse for a mother of a new born child than receiving confirmation that your child suffers from a disability. Hearing impairment is the largest, single disability; a silent killer as very often it goes undetected, ignored, or mistreated. If a child is congenitally deaf, and receives no hearing amplification he/she will hardly be able to develop spoken language after 3-4 years because even with amplification, the hearing pathway no longer activates the auditory cortex, but the visual cortex. This is largely due to the fact that these children have to rely solely on their vision to ‘hear’ and make sense of a very auditory world. It is therefore imperative that parents are guided into making the decision for the child to be a part of the hearing world or not, at the earliest time as possible. A Baha Softband can be worn from as early as birth to ensure your child is connected to sound from the start.
Trials: Unlike other hearing implants, a Baha can be trialled 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 hearing via the Baha system. As a parent, you too can trial Baha to experience the quality of sound your child will be hearing.
Fitting: Fitting usually takes place between 3 weeks and 3 months post-surgery depending on the device that was implanted and the quality of bone of the patient. Fitting refers to the connection of the external sound processor to the Baha implant in the skull that connects the patient to sound for the first time after the implant. The fitting is often uneventful because the brain needs time and practice to adjust to the new sound. The results will emerge over time.
Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation is an accepted part of the implant process since the brain needs auditory training and exercise to get used to the new sound. Read more on our PATIENTS page.
Auditory verbal rehabilitation: During 2010, Southern ENT sponsored thirteen professionals from around South Africa to complete a yearlong training programme in Auditory Verbal Practice (AVP) under Warren Estabrooks, President and CEO of WE Listen International. The aim of AVP is to enable children with hearing disabilities to communicate through speech. Contact Janet Wiegman at janet.w@southernear.com for more information.
Never too old to be implanted: There are no age restrictions on Baha® implants. If you are told that “hearing aids will no longer help/nothing more can be done”, a referral to a Baha® clinic might be that last resort. Contact us to connect you with your nearest clinic for an evaluation.
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