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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cochlear Baha 3 Implant

 My dad's doctor told him he was a candidate for the Cochlear Implant back in 2011 and a couple of weeks before Christmas the process started to get the "bionic" ear.  The first step was to have the surgery to place a small titanium implant into the bone behind the ear.  It takes three months for this to fuse with living bone.  The picture above is from his last visit when he got the "processor".  He chose white to match his hair.  They come in several color choices.

The picture below is a couple of months after the surgery.  I could not take a picture right after the surgery, because it was pretty messy looking and took a while to get to this point of looking good.  He had some problems with swelling that required several office visits.  The black cover you see in the picture below is a small snap that covers the silver snap underneath.  The black cover snap was temporary for during the three month healing process.
It can not get wet, so since today was a rainy day, he turned his ball cap sideways before going outside so the bill of his cap would cover the unit.  He was looking a little gangster today !  He can snap the unit off and on whenever he wants.  He said since in the past he takes his hearing aid off when going to sleep, that he will probably unsnap the unit before going to bed too.  When I was taking the pictures he was surprised to hear the camera making noises each time I snapped a picture.  He did not know the camera did that.  He also is hearing the turn signal in his van.  He did not know his blinker made a noise.  Life will be very interesting for him for the next few months while he takes in all the things he has been missing!  He says right now everything is very loud and he is having to train himself to block out the background noises.

2 comments:

  1. I am getting my baha surgery in oct 2014 and just wanted to ask you how your dad likes his baha? thank you for any advice you can offer and have a great day.

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  2. My dad's BAHA has given him great improvements in his hearing. Healing was slow and he had to have an extra procedure done to remove additional skin b/c the unit would not stay snapped on. The wind is the biggest issue, it makes the unit "whistle" and he finds it annoying. He is hearing things he's never heard before (i.e. the blinker signal in the car, the leaves rustling etc). He's very happy that he made the decision. He can plug his T.V. directly into it, so that's a nice feature. In the past he's had to wear headphones while watching T.V.) OxfordImpressions

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