Loyola Study Confirms BAHA's Effectiveness
Editor: A Loyola University study has confirmed that the BAHA system is
an effective treatment for single-sided deafness. The system works by
transmitting sound from the side of the bad ear through the bones of a
patient's head to the good ear. Here's the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2008
Although Jim McGinn of Wheaton is completely deaf in his right ear, he
still can hear from that side.
A sound processor McGinn wears just behind his right ear converts sound
waves into tiny vibrations that move through his skull. The vibrations are
detected by his good left ear, so it sounds to McGinn like he can hear
from both sides.
A Loyola University Health System study has found that this system of
conducting sound through skull bone is a big boost to people who are deaf
in one ear and can't be helped by hearing aids or cochlear implants.
Sixty Loyola patients were asked to compare their hearing before and
after getting the system, called Baha. Their ability to hear in a quiet
environment improved by 28 percent, the trouble they had with background
noise decreased by 33 percent and the difficulties they experienced with
reverberating sounds in such settings as churches and lecture halls was
reduced by 29 percent. The only downside: there was a 7 percent increase
in the annoyance caused by loud sounds such as fire truck sirens.
"People are hearing much better," said V. Suzanne Jeter, an audiologist
at Loyola Oakbrook Terrace Medical Center.
Jeter presented the study at the 10th International Conference on
Cochlear Implants and Other Implantable Auditory Technologies in San
Diego.
Each year, more than 60,000 people in the United States become deaf in
one ear due to such causes as chronic ear infections, congenital
conditions, inner ear disease, injuries or tumors.
McGinn, a retired accountant, lost hearing on his right side due to an
acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor in the inner ear. At the dinner table, he
struggled to hear what people to his right were saying. And when driving
his car, he couldn't hear the passenger.
A Loyola surgeon implanted a small titanium post in McGinn's skull,
behind his right ear. The sound processor clips on to this post. The
battery-operated processor is roughly the size of an adult thumb, from the
tip to the first knuckle. A microphone picks up sound waves, and a
computer chip converts the sound waves into electrical signals that
vibrate the skull. These tiny vibrations, which McGinn can't feel, travel
to the inner portion of his left ear, where they are detected as sound.
McGinn removes the sound processor when showering or sleeping.
"It's a dramatic difference," McGinn said. "I'm getting conversation
from around the table now, not just from the left side."
Since 2004, Loyola doctors have put the device in 130 patients. The
total cost per patient ranges from $10,000 to $15,000. Medicare and most
insurance plans cover it, Jeter said.
Jeter's study is the largest of its kind on the device. Jeter said she
receives no funding from Cochlear Americas, which makes the device.
To schedule an appointment with a Loyola physician, call 888-LUHS-888
~~~~~
Loyola University Health System, a wholly owned subsidiary of Loyola
University Chicago (LUC), includes the private teaching hospital at Loyola
University Medical Center (LUMC), 16 specialty and primary care centers in
the western and southwestern suburbs, the Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center
at Oakbrook and the Loyola Oakbrook Terrace Imaging Center; and serves as
co-owner-operator of RML Specialty Hospital, a long-term acute hospital
specializing in ventilation weaning and other medically complex patients
in suburban Hinsdale, Ill. Loyola is nationally recognized for its
specialty care and groundbreaking research in cancer, neurological
disorders, neonatology and the treatment of heart disease. The 61-acre
medical center campus in Maywood, Ill., includes the 570-licensed bed
Loyola University Hospital with a Level I trauma center, the region's
largest burn unit, one of the Midwest's most comprehensive organ
transplant programs, the Russo Surgical Pavilion and the Ronald McDonald(r)
Children's Hospital of LUMC. Also on campus are Loyola's Center for Heart
& Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola
Outpatient Center and LUC Stritch School of Medicine. The medical school
includes the Cardiovascular Institute, Oncology Institute, Burn & Shock
Trauma Institute, Neuroscience Institute and the Neiswanger Institute for
Bioethics and Health Policy.
