Single-Sided Deafness Amplification Options

By Michael Rairigh, AuD

When a patient suffers from one deafened ear and one normal hearing ear the audiologist can amplify sounds on the deafened side of the head, and by using bone conduction through the skull the person will hear the sound on the side with normal hearing.
When you have your hearing test by a licensed audiologist there are two parts. The first part consists of wearing headphones over your ears, or inserting headphones in your ears and testing your hearing through air conduction. The second part will consist of wearing a small oscillator behind your ear verifying how well you can hear through bone conduction. If you can hear normally on the better ear through bone conduction you are a candidate for a bone conduction hearing device for single sided deafness.
Bone conduction hearing amplification falls into two categories. The first category is for surgical amplification. This is typically done using a device called the BAHA, where an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) surgically places an abutment into the skull for the BAHA to attach. The BAHA device will then snap into this abutment and by increasing the volume on the device the patient will experience perception of sound from the deafened side.
The second category are non-surgical devices. The BAHA can also be placed non-surgically, but this does not appeal to many patients due to the band that has to be worn around the head, but it performs much the same.
Another option is to wear a power completely-in-the-canal hearing instrument that reaches the bony portion of the external auditory canal to provide perception of sound on the deafened side.
The success of a bone conduction hearing instrument does depend on the persons realistic expectations. A bone conduction device is primarily used for sound awareness and perception. It is not to replace normal hearing on the deafened side.
Lastly, new research is being conducted on a new bone conduction device that will actually be worn in the mouth on your molars. A small behind-the-ear device will be worn on the deafened ear to act as the microphone, and will wirelessly transmit the sound to a small molded receiver that is placed on a molar inside the mouth. It attaches very similarly to a retainer that would be placed in the mouth. The device is currently in research, but should be out within the next year pending approval.