I’ve been looking into ’s as an alternative to aids and wanted to find out if people found having a BAHA on the deaf/less hearing side had more benefit than a CROS aid?
As a follow up - where did you get a trial of a BAHA? Would this be feasible on the NHS?
I’ve heard that the more recent cochlear also pairs with a Phonak aid for /BAHA dual wearing - does anyone have experience of this?
I went a few years ago to see if I would be eligible for on my right, but it seems like I have too much ossification and the nerve may be dead. I’m looking to see if the BAHA would work by transmitting the vibrations through bone to my left side. Thanks!
Edit: I have been wearing a HA on my left with CROS in my right on and off for the last 25 years. I am familiar with the Phonak and Oticon Cross system and want to hear from BAHA users who have also tried CROS to see if it is worth it.
In short I don’t know exactly. I did have a scan of my head, but I’ve had no ‘everyday’ input to the nerve in about… 25 years? the NHS doesn’t want to try, though said private may do it for about 50-80k. Only recently did I find out that there is some residual hearing on the right, but it may be that I was feeling the vibrations over actually hearing the tone, as they had to mask the left side while doing the .
You can trial a system via a softband where the device is held to the head with an elastic headband. It’s certainly not ideal, as sound energy will not be as direct/strong as with an abutment, but you would certainly get an idea of how it works. I am unfamiliar with how NHS would handle that, however.
At this point, streaming or processing is only done through a cochlear implant and an air conduction hearing aid i.e. bimodal with BAHA is not a thing yet.
The research on versus BAHA for is certainly not scant, but they tend to conclude that both are solid options, but both have their limitations. If you haven’t been fit with a CROS system yet (importantly with an effectively aided left ear), I would start there.
You can trial a BAHA system via a softband where the device is held to the head with an elastic headband. It’s certainly not ideal, as sound energy will not be as direct/strong as with an abutment, but you would certainly get an idea of how it works. I
Thanks, I sure didn’t know about this.
The OP is talking , I wonder if has been ruled out…
We have a member @TexOkie that got the newest OSIA Cochlear bone conduction system. Last I remember he was amazed with this system.
Hi @PaulC - thanks! Yes I am aware of the Softband, so was wondering where I could trial it. I may ask my audiologist and see what they say.
I think I did see something about a system that works with as well online but can’t find it now - if I find it I’ll post the link.
I’ve had various systems for the last 25 years and they all have varying degrees of fit and usefulness - hence looking for CROS Vs BAHA experiences.
My main complaint ATM is my HA/CROS (with mould) in my left ‘good’ ear occludes too much of my remaining hearing and not giving enough back to me, so I sometimes prefer going without them. Wondering if having a BAHA would be able to augment remaining hearing by being on my right side.
I agree; try the nonsurgical approach using first. Given that you have limited hearing in one ear, you may want to explore the Bi-CROS option, which is what I have.
Thank you @hearing1 I have been using various / BI- CROS Options for the last 25 years, but I’m not finding them as useful as they always block / reduce the remaining hearing I have in my cleft side - so in many noisy situations I don’t feel they help me.
So that is why I’m looking to see if might be that middle ground that may help.
@Bee7 I don’t have much hearing in my right ear, which is why the Bi- works for me, even thogh I lose some sense of sound location from my right side. It’s interesting that you say your aids block or reduce your left ear hearing: could it be that you have ear pieces that block too much sound? My Bi-CROS side has an open ear piece that lets sound in.
I totally understand about noisy situations. That’s why with my ReSound Nexia I have a Multi Mic accessory that sends peoples’ voices right into my hearing aid. My spouse wears it for one-on-one conversations, plus if I put the mic on a table I can hear people speaking in group situations, even in noisy backgrounds. I don’t know what brand of hearing aids you have, but there could be a compatible mic for your aids. It may be an option Google Search
Thank you. Yes, I prefer open domes to having a mould. The most recent mould that I was fitting blocks too much sound but oticon domes fall out of my ears. I did not have this problem with phonak domes. My audiologist solution was to give me a mould. I do have a vent in this but it’s incredibly small. They actually could not put ric in my mould because my canal’s too small. Which also mean to have and the powers not quite enough.
Yes, I used to have the Roger pen 1.1 - then my marvel hearing aid couldn’t connect with it and now my oticon can’t without having a neck loop which is too much faff for me. I’ve tried the oticon mic but this is only on a one-to-one situation and I really need to use something that worked in a group situation. I’m also having issued with the article mic as the sound in a picture up is too quiet. I asked my audiologist to turn it up and now testing that.
Glad to hear that using the mic works for you! I just seem to have a lot of fitting problems with my oticons.
In short I don’t know exactly. I did have a scan of my head, but I’ve had no ‘everyday’ input to the nerve in about… 25 years?
I didn’t read the whole topic due to time constraint. Probably you are case like me, in which lazy doctors didn’t want explain my mother what cochlea is EDIT: (I was 4 years old) END OF EDIT so they said BS like “dead nerve”, which is untrue.
I have totally deaf left ear for >20 years, now have . In FB group “Cochlear implant and unilateral deafness” there are people with even 50 years and with good outcomes.
Please persist for decent diagnostics and CI evaluation, possibly second opinion, because there are much more benefits from CI than from transcranial with .
Speaking about “dead nerve” without at least scan (preferably 3-Tesla) is egregious…
I’m sorry I don’t frequent this site very much, I )use happened to see the shortcut tonight and thought I would check out what is going on. I hope I’m not too late to get my 2¢ in.
I wore a Phonak Paradise Audeo 70 System with open domes for two years. At first, I was happy with it, but as time went on, I became less happy with it.
First let me say that I am functionally deaf in my left ear. I hear sound in my left ear at 40% of what it should be. But even amplified to normal level I was unable to recognize what the sound was. More importantly, I failed to recognize speech 100% of the time. So I should have been an ideal candidate for a CROS system.
As I said before, I was happy with the CROS system at first, but as time went on, I realized that even though my Audiology test said I was hearing 100% of the sound from my left side in my right ear, in real life, it didn’t seem so. I still kept saying, “What?” To people on my left side an awfully high percentage of the time. Far more than I was saying to people on the right.
I went back to the Audiologist no less than three times asking for the volume to be increased, but either he wasn’t increasing it as much as he could, or the hearing aid just wasn’t working out. Part of the problem was that Phonak didn’t provide an App that allowed me to make adjustments myself until after I had already implanted the Osia.
At any rate, I finally changed Audiologists and as confirmation to my thinking, the new Audiologist told me I was a good candidate for a , and asked if I had looked into one. That story is a long one that is posted on here also if you’re interested. But the short story was I didn’t qualify for the CI, but I did for a Bone Conduction Device.
I ended up getting a Cochlear America Osia. I didn’t trial the headband version, I just tried the spring band version they put on you in the office. I remembered the trial on the CROS and compared it to the office trial on the Osia. The Osia performed better with the trial version that was not implanted than the Phonak CROS that was actually in my ear as it would be when I used it.
I’ve had the Osia for two years now, and make adjustments as needed for the situation. It takes different settings for a quiet room versus a restaurant, church is another setting and watching TV is another. I wear my old Phonak in my right ear for my HF hearing loss, and the Osia takes are of sending sound from the left side to the ear on the right via the bones in my skull. The weird thing is, it also sends the same sound to the left ear as well. I know I’m not able to locate where sounds come from, but there are times when I hear something and turn to my left, and there it is. I know I can’t do that, but. . .
Hi, thank you, this is a really useful account. Thank you for your two cents!
I recently went to a private audiologist. (I’m based in the UK so just my local specsavers) I described my condition and asked about bone conduction hearing aids - they said that it wouldn’t necessarily be useful for me as I described my hearing loss and they said I wouldn’t get much use of it on my right side, but I’m still sceptical - mostly as I feel like you I might get use from my hearing left side anyway. I feel very much in the same boat as you, where I have functionally no hearing on my right side, but I feel the vibrations in my eardrum before I hear anything on my right side.
It was interesting that I went to trial the phonak infinio sphere two weeks ago, and the Infinio does not have a cros aid, they decided just to put the right side in anyway. As soon as they turned it on, I ripped out of my ear because I could feel the vibration of the sound on my right side which tickled so much! It wears only up until the last 2 years that I found out that I had any hearing in my right side at all!
The one thing they did say about the Infinio is apparently it works better when you have two in because the two hearing aids talk to each other. I have not necessarily been able to verify this so I may ask about this from hearing aid dispensers to get a second check of that.
The one thing they did say about the Infinio is apparently it works better when you have two in because the two hearing aids talk to each other.
Not necessarily. In cases such as yours or mine - properly fitted (i.e. with properly occluding earpiece and reaching target gains) unilateral Infinio Sphere 90 (with denoising chip) is usually better than Infinio R (without AI denoising chip) with , especially in noisy conditions.
CROS is a bit helpful mainly in quiet condition when someone speaks to you when staying at your CROS side. In noise it isn’t much helpful at all especially in relation to cost.
Ah I think they meant 2 of the sphere, not necessarily the Sphere in one side and Cros on the other. I couldn’t test the Cros as they did not have a tester of that in stock
Ah I think they meant 2 of the sphere, not necessarily the Sphere in one side and Cros on the other.
If you have very poor (probably near 0%) from poorer ear, buying Sphere for that side is waste of money. Sorry for blunt opinion, but this is no joke when potentially much unnecessary spending comes to play.
And consider that there will be new generation of Phonak hearing aid probably in Aug 2026.
Also, Advanced Bionics (which is part of Sonova compary, which own also Phonak) is going to release new sound processor so there is possible Naida Link Infinio coming into your consideration if you’re interested in hearing aid which could cooperate with compatible sound processor to get the most of aound processing.
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It wears only up until the last 2 years that I found out that I had any hearing in my right side at all!