Hearing Aid - The glorious BAHA

Cicily was born with microtia (small underdeveloped ears) and aural atresia (no ear canal openings). This gives her a conductive hearing loss. This means she can hear up to 60 decibels, which is similar to what you might hear if you plug your ears. Makes lots of sense since she just doesn't have ear openings- her ears are always plugged! :) To allow Cis to hear she has had hearing aids since she was 2 weeks old. Her hearing aid is a special rare type called a bone conduction hearing aid. It works by having a microphone that picks up sounds and then the aid vibrates the bones in her skull to stimulate her inner ear. She used to have a traditional B.C.A. that had wires and was a huge clunker on a tiny head. At 4 months old she got a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) and we LOVE it! It's digital so the sound quality is better and it's smaller. Sometime before Cicily is 6 she will have the BAHA implanted into her skull (possibly as early as 2 yrs old). They actually implant a screw into her skull and then put the BAHA device on to an abutment that sticks out of her head (I saw it on a plastic model head and yes, it does resemble Frankenstein's screws- only smaller! :) ) This will greatly improve the sound quality as the vibration of the sound will actually go strait to her skull instead of having to travel through her skin first. And she won't have to wear the headband that the BAHA sits on now. If you'd like more info, you can check out the BAHA site http://www.cochlearamericas.com/Products/2013.asp

Headband Mom rigged up so she could wear her BAHA and have a cute baby girl headband.

Headband without the BAHA. The plastic piece is the cradle that the BAHA snaps into. The backside of the cradle rests tightly on Cicily's head so it can vibrate the sounds to her skull bones.
BAHA sitting face up without headband. This is as it will look under her hair when it is implanted.
Backside of BAHA. You can see the post that snaps into the plastic cradle on the headband. When implanted, that post will snap into the abutment on Cis' head.
BAHA in Mom's hand to show the relative size .