Connect
Single sided deafness and Bone anchor hearing aide?
So after my acoustic neuroma brain surgery which was a failure and still inside my head, My ent was trying/planning to do a cochlear implant. He was not able to as my cochlear was destroyed during the surgery. So during follow up he suggested a bone anchored hearing aid and I asked does it work? So he takes a tuning fork and bangs it on a table and lightly touched my skull and the sound was glorious! So i went through the surgery and man what a disappointment. The sound is nowhere close to my good ear and definitely not like a tuning key. It also won’t heal. It bleeds constantly. It’s been over a year, doctor told me for 6 months that he would put a shorter abutment and that would take care of it, even though I would see him every month nothing was done. I live Nebraska and used a local hospital. Anyone else have this issue? Now if i had bad hearing on my other ear it would be a miracle but that being said it’s just not comparable.
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Support Group.
Connect
If you are able, I suggest a visit to Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Clinic Phoenix. I lost hearing in my left ear, had the abutment placed in Cleveland. 3-4 months after that healed, I started wearing a Ponto hearing device. Nothing is like our original hearing; however, the Ponto device is extremely helpful. Now that I reside in Phoenix, my hearing care is at Mayo. I will never trust my hearing care to a local hospital system. As a result of disease/growths, over the years I’ve had a total of 10 surgeries on both ears combined.
I have had my BAHA for 12 years and I love it and the hearing I get from it. It was done at Mayo Rochester MN by Dr. Colin Driscoll one year after my cancer surgery removed my ear canal on that side. My device is from Cochlear and is now the strongest they have. Other companies require different abutments. The particular placement location and prep of the skin site are very important, as I recall Dr. Driscoll talking the resident through each step of this new technique for placing it. It was strange to be awake as they drilled into my skull but it was pretty much painless. Having hearing on the right after a year of onesided deafness was like a miracle. I know at the time there was no ENT in NW Ohio doing Baha implants, but since my cancer surgery was done at Mayo and Dr. Driscoll had suggested a BAHA, I followed up with them.
If possible for you, I would suggest a referral to Mayo Rochester to have your problems checked out. I have heard that there can be issues with the site and skin growing over the site, but have certainly never had any. Is that a reasonable distance for you to travel for health care?