Another when on boat ride from Woolwich to Westminster last Monday
View attachment 2209996
complete with not so hidden message
Neat photo, wonderful scenic vista! Love the framing of everything! Actually, there is more than one message in this image..... Something instantly caught my attention -- the gentleman standing there gazing out at the view is wearing something which looks very familiar to me, as I have two of them. He's using a bone-anchored sound processor (BAHA), the little brown tear-shaped thingy on his head above his right ear. The BAHA snaps into place on a titanium metal piece called the abutment; no wires, ho headbands needed. The sound is received by the external sound processor and is conducted through the titanium abutment, which in turn is connected to a tiny titanium screw implanted in the mastoid process, and the wearer's cochlea takes things from there.
Using a process similar to tooth implantations, utilizing osseointegration, back in the early 1980's Swedish researchers and physicians in Gothenburg collaborated in the development of the first dedicated bone conduction sound processor. This, specifically meant to benefit patients with conductive hearing loss, was a huge step forward from the usual process of fitting them with body aids and headbands or modified behind-the-ear standard hearing aids. Through the years the external devices have become smaller or differently shaped and they have become digital, like most hearing aids today, offering opportunities that never could have been imagined back in the old days when there were few options in hearing aids.
It's cool to see a BAHA out there in the wild, so to speak -- there aren't a lot of us who are candidates for this particular device so I don't often see someone else wearing a single or bilateral BAHA(s). Women's hair often conceals their sound processors.
Oh -- before anyone asks, this is not the same as a cochlear implant, which is meant for people with profound hearing loss caused by other types of hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss is usually due to atresia/microtia, acoustic neuroma, or recurrent ear infections related to excessive sticky fluid in the ear ("glue ear"). Traditional hearing aids are not effective in these situations. Those of us who can benefit from the BAHA are very grateful for this technology.
