Cochlear

If you’ve been told your child has hearing loss, you may feel overwhelmed. That’s normal. There is no right way to react to such news, so give yourself time and draw on the love and support of family and friends.

Although you may feel alone, there are many parents who’ve been where you are. About 34 million children worldwide have disabling hearing loss and up to five in every 1,000 babies are born with hearing loss or lose their hearing soon after birth.1 

Every child is different and so is a child’s hearing loss.

 

Can bone conduction implants help your child?

Bone conduction implants may help children with single-sided deafness, conductive hearing loss or mixed hearing loss.

 

What are the benefits?

Research and decades of experience shows that bone conduction implants may help recipients:

Hear better, even in noisy situations.2,3

Enjoy improved sound quality (compared to hearing aids) by bypassing the damaged part of their ear to reduce the amount of amplification needed to hear better.3

Enjoy improved speech recognition (compared to hearing aids).4

A hearing professional who specialises in hearing implant technology can advise if your child could benefit from a bone conduction implant.

 

Are there bone conduction solutions that don’t need surgery?

Yes. The Cochlear™ Baha® System allows your child to experience bone conduction hearing even if they are too young for an implant or not quite ready for surgery.

 

A step on your child’s hearing journey

Baha Start allows your child to experience hearing through bone conduction without the need for surgery. It’s a bone conduction solution for children with conductive hearing loss, mixed hearing loss and single-sided sensorineural deafness (SSD).

Baha Start consists of one or two sound processors worn on either Baha Softband or SoundArc™.

The sound processor captures sound in the air and converts the sound into vibrations which are carried through the bone to the inner ear.

Secure. Practical.

The Baha Softband and SoundArc are lightweight and easy to wear with a secure and comfortable fit. They are available in several sizes and different colours, so your child can choose the one that suits them the best. To view the various colour options available, please click here.

 

Benefits for your child

Early access to sound is proven to make a difference in helping children learn, engage and fully experience the richness of their environment.5 Baha Start may be the solution your child needs to access sound as early as possible. It’s designed to deliver sound to help your child to develop on par with their hearing peers.5,6

With our latest sound processor, Baha 6 Max, your child will have a small and powerful sound processor designed to deliver clear, rich and natural sound7 without getting in the way of their everyday life. To find out more about the Baha 6 Max, click here.

 

A hearing implant reimagined

The Cochlear™ Osia® System is a hearing implant that uses the body’s natural ability to conduct sound through bone. Its innovative technologies are designed to work in and with the body to help your child hear speech in noisy environments8 and enjoy the details of the sounds that surround them.

It’s not the sound that’s changed, it’s how you hear it

The Osia System is made up of two parts, working together to deliver sound in an innovative way.

 

Osia 2 Sound Processor

The slim, off-the-ear sound processor is light and comfortable.8 It sits above and behind the ear and attaches magnetically.

Osia Implant

Placed under the skin, the implant contains unique hearing technology, optimised to deliver high power and gain, especially in high frequencies important for understanding what other people are saying.

If you would like to find out more about the Osia System, please click here.



References

  1. 10 facts about Deafness [Internet]. World Health Organization; (2018), [cited 5 October 2018]. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/deafness/en/

  2. Lin LM, Bowditch S, Anderson MJ, May B, Cox KM, Niparko K. “Amplification in the rehabilitation of unilateral deafness: speech in noise and directional hearing effects with bone-anchored hearing and contralateral routing of signal amplification.” Otology & Neurotology. 2006;27(2):172-82.

  3. Flynn MC, Sadeghi A, Halvarsson G. Baha solutions for patients with severe mixed hearing loss. Cochlear Implants Int 2009;10 Suppl 1:43-7.

  4. Hol MK, Snik AF, Mylanus EA, Cremers CW. Long-term results of bone anchored hearing aid recipients who had previously used air-conduction hearing aids. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2005 Apr;131(4):321-5.

  5. Yoshinaga-Itano C. Early Intervention after universal neo-natal hearing screening: impact on outcomes. Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2003;9(4):252-66.

  6. Hol MK, Cremers CW, Coppens-Schellekens W, Snik AF. The Baha Softband. A new treatment for young children with bilateral congenital aural atresia. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2005;69:973-80.

  7. Hoffman J. Subjective evaluation of clear rich and natural sound. Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB, Sweden. 2020; D1788013.

  8. Mylanus EAM, Hua H, Wigren S, et al. Multicenter Clinical Investigation of a New Active Osseointegrated Steady-State Implant System. Otol Neurotol. 2020;41(9):1249-1257

 

Disclaimer

Please seek advice from your health professional about treatments for hearing loss. Outcomes may vary, and your health professional will advise you about the factors which could affect your outcome. Always read the instructions for use. Not all products are available in all countries. Please contact your local Cochlear representative for product information.

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