Getting used to your bone anchored hearing aid isn’t always easy. Adjusting to wearing your BAHA can take time, no matter what your age and there’s a lot to remember. In this blog we’ll share 9 tips for BAHA wearers that should make life with your new hearing device a little easier!
1. Try Little and Often
When you first get your BAHA, it’s a good idea to try wearing it little and often to begin with. This is particularly true if you’re not used to having adjusted hearing. When you start wearing your BAHA, you may feel a bit like your senses are being overloaded and that it’s difficult to tune out background noise and concentrate. You might even feel fatigued after wearing your BAHA for an extended period as you’re not used to experiencing different situations and environments with a hearing aid in place.
All this can apply to adults as well as to children and babies, who may not be able to
explain what they’re experiencing but might complain of headaches, feeling tired or even cry or act out behaviourally due to sensory overload when first wearing their BAHA.
2. Avoid Sensory Overload
To avoid the sensory overload we talked about in the point above, it’s a good idea to try babies and toddlers with just the BAHA headband (i.e. without the processor) to begin with. This allows them to get used to the feel of the headband (or softband) against their skin before introducing the added element of the processor to adapt their hearing. Taking it in stages like this gives your child a more gentle introduction to wearing a BAHA so they’re more likely to accept it.
3. Where to Wear Your BAHA Processor
BAHAs are designed to be worn directly behind the ear, however the technology behind the device – bone conduction – will work through any part of the skull, regardless of where the processor sits. It’s thought that you should get the best possible sound quality when your BAHA processor is placed on the occipital bone, however, that doesn’t mean you can’t wear your processor elsewhere if it suits you better.
For example, babies and toddlers may experience indentation marks when wearing their processor in the same position for long periods, due to having softer skull bones while they’re still developing. Whilst this won’t hurt them or damage their development, it’s a good idea to move their BAHA processor around if you want to avoid the appearance of indentation marks. Babies also spend a lot of their time lying down, meaning it’s more practical for them to wear their sound processor on the front of their head where they won’t experience feedback issues.
4. Use a Safety Line
Using a safety line helps keep your BAHA processor secure. The safety line works by attaching the processor to something else such as clothing to prevent it from falling off if it comes loose or is knocked. All our BAHA Accessories headbands come with a safety line anchor as standard.
Some people find that a safety line gets in the way, or is a distraction for babies and toddlers who find it too tempting to pull on! However, for many BAHA wearers, a safety line is a great way to ensure that you don’t lose or damage your processor when you’re taking part in energetic activities, whether that’s a gym workout or riding a fairground ride!
5. Know When to Remove Your BAHA
As a BAHA wearer, you’ll also need to know when it’s vital to remove your BAHA. You should take your BAHA headband and processor off whenever it might get wet, for example, when swimming, showering or having a bath. You should also take it off before going to sleep. If you need to have an MRI scan or go through a metal detector, for example, at an airport, then you’ll need to take your BAHA off first as the processor contains metal parts.
6. Keep Your BAHA Dry
As we’ve mentioned, you do need to keep your BAHA processor dry and shouldn’t
wear it for activities where it might get wet, such as swimming, playing watersports or having a bath or shower. You should also be sure to cover your BAHA processor (or remove it) if you’re caught in a heavy downpour of rain. You can get covers for your processor or simply wear a coat with a hood and carry an umbrella! Putting your processor in a drying jar when you’re not wearing it can also help to remove any harmful moisture from the day’s wear.
7. Take Care of Your BAHA
Knowing how to take care of your new BAHA can give you more confidence about wearing and handling it. Familiarise yourself with the settings and cleaning instructions for your BAHA processor so you feel comfortable maintaining it between appointments with your audiology team. If you wear your bone anchored hearing device on a headband, you’ll also need to know how to clean and care for your BAHA headband.
8. Have Fun With Your BAHA!
When it comes to wearing your BAHA, try to have fun with it! While it’s true that your new hearing aid is a medical device, you can also view it as a new accessory! Whether you want your BAHA to subtly blend in or stand out, you can use custom BAHA headbands and accessories to express your personality and accent your style.
9. Be Proud of Your BAHA!
Bone anchored hearing aids offer the chance of improved, adjusted hearing to people who are D/deaf or have hearing loss. They provide a much-needed alternative to traditional hearing aids for people living with conditions such as Treacher Collins Syndrome (TCS), Goldenhar Syndrome and Microtia, as well as those with single-sided deafness or who suffer from chronic ear infections or allergies.
Being proud of your BAHA and what it means to you and your life can help you feel more confident about wearing your BAHA and answering questions about it if people are curious about what it is and how it works.
Get In Touch
We hope you’ve enjoyed these tips for BAHA wearers and that they’ve been helpful for those of you who are new to wearing a BAHA. If you have any other questions or want to know more about BAHA headbands and accessories, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.
We’d also be more than happy to talk you through our various products and designs and their different functions to make sure that they’re the right choice for you. Get in touch today by calling 07432 620644 or emailing sales@bahaaccessoriesuk.com. You can also contact us online. We look forward to hearing from you!