Informationsfilm: Benförankrad hörapparat

Discovery that Titanium
is Accepted by the Body

During the 1950's and 1960's Professor Brånemark discovered that titanium is accepted by the human body and merges with the surrounding bone to a strong structure. He called the process osseointegration. In 1965 the first patient, a Swedish person, successfully received a titanium implants for dental restoration. 25 years later the same person received a BAHA.

1977 the First Patient went Through Surgery

Osseointegration of titanium implants and the skull bone opened up possibilities for direct bone conduction from a sound sensor on the implant to the inner ear. In 1977 the first patient in the world had a BAHA surgery in Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Previously, this type of bone conduction aid was located pressed against the skin behind the ear, the sound quality was uncertain and use sometimes problematic. The discovery of osseointegration improved for those who had a conductive hearing loss, ie the hearing loss was due to a lack of sound transmission through the middle ear to the inner ear.

Interdisciplinary Project in Gothenburg

In an interdisciplinary project at Chalmers University (Professor Bo Håkansson) in collaboration with ENT and otoneurology of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, BAHA was developed.

Professor Brånemark discovery played a central role, but the medical and surgical development was led by associate Professor Anders Tjellström in collaboration with Professors Olle Hallen and Gunnar Liden.

On the Market at the End of the 80's

In 1987 BAHA was approved in Sweden, and after another five years, BAHA was a commercially approved product manufactured by Nobel Pharma.

In 1999 the company Entific was founded in Gothenburg for the launch of BAHA in the global market. In 2005 Australian Cochlear, which markets cochlear implants, purchased Entific. Since 2009, the company Oticon Medical also started production of bone anchored hearing systems.