The device is making it possible for a Grand Blanc Township doctor to offer his patients a world full of sound.
This piece of plastic is actually part of Alyssa Schwartz's ear. Alyssa has a genetic disorder called Treacher Collins syndrome. She was born without most of her outer ear.
"She hears like if you plugged your ears. And it's very muffled and faint sounding," Alyssa's mother, Tiffany Schwartz said.
That's because Alyssa's inner ear, the cochlea, works just fine. But sound is muffled unless she is wearing her Baha implant. It does the job of her missing outer ear.
"Your outer ear is kind of important to your hearing, 'cause that grasps the sound and sends it in," Tiffany said.
That's where the Baha comes in. Dr. Wayne Robbins, a Grand Blanc otolaryngologist, says the Baha isn't actually a hearing aid, it's a sound processor that is attached to a post that has been implanted in the skull. "Sound has to be transmitted through the bone down to the cochlea because her normal canal didn't form. It's basically plugged up."
"The Baha picks up the sound pretty good and she hears at a normal level," Tiffany said.
Alyssa not only hears, she can dance.
"She has to have her Bahas. It scares me more than I think it scares her to not have 'em," Tiffany said.
The Baha is made by Cochlear, the same company that makes the Cochlear implant. The Cochlear is for people who are completely deaf. The Baja is for people who are hearing impaired or deaf in one ear.
Dr. Robbins is hosting a free informational forum at McLaren Hospital Wednesday, Feb. 24 from 6-8 p.m.
