141 5 General Discussion Core Principle 6 – Increased Social Awareness. Social acceptance of any hearing aid, especially in children of teenage years, is important. A particular group that this causes concern for, are those who already have a different appearance such as microtia, hemifacial microsomia, Treacher- Collins syndrome to name just a few. Self-perception is driven largely by appearance and more recently the increasing influence of social media. Fortunately, as of late there has been an active drive to improve awareness and education for those individuals with an additional audiological need, aiming to improve acceptance and understanding of why people need to wear hearing devices. An excellent example is that of Rose Ayling-Ellis who won UK Strictly Come Dancing in 2021. Following her success, a survey of deaf children and their families by the National Deaf Children’s Society found that her increased social visibility in the competition, improved children’s confidence to wear hearing devices and encourage them to talk more openly about their own deafness. In August 2022 Mattel announced that they will be releasing a ‘Barbie’ wearing a ‘behind the ear ‘hearing aid as part of its new diversity campaign; a concept that Oticon previously developed with a teddy bear wearing a BAHD many years ago. Indeed, many children’s television programs have begun to introduce role model characters with hearing disabilities; examples being Eastenders, and Toy story 4. Programs aimed at younger children on CBBC such as ‘Mr Tumble’ (Justin Fletcher MBE) utilise Makaton sign language increasing awareness and understanding of hearing challenges for both the children and their care givers, and these programs are enjoyed by all including those children without additional hearing or learning needs. Now Marvel has introduced more than one superhero with hearing impairment, into their universe including ‘Echo’ and ‘Blue ear’ the first superhero with a special listening device that gives him super-sonic hearing. This character was created in the likeness of Anthony Smith, a four-year-old boy born with mosaic trisomy 22. This increased general social awareness of both the need for and the appearance of hearing devices is vital to improve the engagement of patients and normalise their use. Overtime time this approach is likely to reduce or remove the social stigma of wearing such hearing devices. The recreational use of bone conduction headphones has also increased in popularity. These headphones allow users to remain aware of their surroundings while listening to music. This is particularly important when running, cycling, or undertaking snow sports. As a result, they are the only headphones approved for use in road races under the UK Athletics Rules of Competition. More recent innovations have been brought to the market regularly including waterproof headphone versions, which have the functionality to work as a walkie-talkie, take calls, undertake multiway group chats as well as listening to music.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw