Loss of one's sense of hearing can be very detrimental to a person's quality of life with significant limitation in communication. 360 million people in the world have disabling hearing loss, with a rate of 347 per 100,000. Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHA) are bone-conduction-based hearing aids with titanium implants embedded in the skull. Up to 17% of patients with percutaneous BAHAs have adverse skin reactions around the implant despite strict hygiene practices and antibiotic regimens. This is particularly problematic in children, whose speech/language development is in a critical stage, there are failure rates up to 37%, with 25% requiring explantation. To address this, we investigated the use of nano-featured surfacing for these implants to both reduce infection and inflammatory responses while improving osseointegration. Nanomaterials have been found to have a profound effect upon cell-material interactions, including prevention of bacterial proliferation as well as heightened mammalian cell growth for tissue regeneration. With varied deposition parameters we have demonstrated topographical control of these surfaces and observed changes in bacterial and osteoblast adhesion and integration.
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