A bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) or bone-anchored hearing device, is a type of hearing aid based on bone conduction. It is primarily suited for people who have conductive hearing losses, unilateral hearing loss, single-sided deafness and people with mixed hearing losses who cannot otherwise wear ‘in the ear’ or ‘behind the ear’ hearing aids.
Bone-anchored hearing aids use a surgically implanted abutment to transmit sound by direct conduction through bone to the inner ear, bypassing the external auditory canal and middle ear. A titanium prosthesis is surgically embedded into the skull with a small abutment protruding through the skin.
The latest devices are attached to the head by a magnetic hearing device attracted to another magnet placed invisibly under the skin so that there is no longer a screw sticking out, which most people find easier to use.