Certain children with aural atresia, or a missing ear canal, will have a CT scan that indicates that they were born with internal ear structures that make aural atresia repair not possible.
For these children, an excellent alternative is the Bone-Anchored Hearing Appliance, or BAHA, an implantable device. The Bone-Anchored Hearing Appliance may be placed in the skull behind the malformed ear.
BAHA surgery is an excellent and important option for restoration of hearing for children with bilateral microtia/aural atresia who are not candidates for aural atresia repair based on CT scan findings. It is a relatively low-risk surgery.
