Future development and visions

What will be the future trends? Hard to say, but as technology always develops it is most likely that improvements will appear in the future. In shorter perspective a more powerful ear level device can be expected as both transducers as well as output amplifier technology already have improved compared with the presently used components. Such a stronger ear level device can be very important for those patients who have to switch to the more cumbersome body worn device as their hearing has deteriorated. Some patients might even go back from the body worn device to a stronger ear level device again.

In a longer perspective, some interesting PhD projects are ongoing that might improve the BAHA treatment in various aspects. The main objectives with these projects are: (1) to improve fitting strategies for BAHA (by Hodgetts at COMPRU, Edmonton, Canada) and (2) to develop better understanding of the bone conduction transmission (by Reinfeldt at Chalmers, Göteborg, Sweden). These and other research projects currently ongoing in other research groups will hopefully contribute to better devices and procedures in the future.

A more visionary project is presently investigated at Chalmers. That is if the transducer can be permanently implanted in the temporal bone as illustrated in Figure 17. In such a solution no percutaneous plug would be needed. By using a two step surgical procedure, as illustrated in Figure 18, the surgical procedure can be relatively simple and safe, actually much less complicated than surgery for a middle ear implant or a cochlear implant.

Figure 17: A possible future implantable BAHA without a permanent skin penetration.
 

Figure 18: A possible two step surgical procedure for an implantable BAHA.

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