Bone Conduction Amplification Laboratory (BCAL)
In 2002 the business leaders, directors and research fellows at iRSM, in association with the Caritas Hospitals Foundation and the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta, secured funding to establish the Bone Conduction Amplification Laboratory (BCAL). Research and clinical directives of this laboratory are devoted to a better understanding of what makes an appropriate bone anchored hearing aid (Baha) patient, what technical assessment tools are needed to best assess a Baha fitting, and what functional outcomes are necessary to understand the whole patient.
The laboratory has a large anechoic chamber facility and is one of the only labs in the world dedicated exclusively to bone conduction hearing research. The BCAL is the first of its kind in Canada and is internationally recognized for Baha research collaborating with centres in Sweden, The Netherlands and the United States. Most Baha patients have difficulty getting sound through their outer and middle ears due to congenital malformations or chronic ear disease. Often, the patient's inner ear (the organ that is actually responsible for hearing) is intact. The Baha is designed to bypass the outer and middle ear and stimulate the inner ear directly by vibrating the skull.
