@emile.heilbron: I’m chuckling at the post I’m about to upload to the Forum! The image is one that shows technology at the other end of the spectrum of sophisticated diagnostic imaging devices that you scientists are discussing. It shows the standard issue Oticon carry case for More1 hearing aids…
This little case has a smooth, flat profile that makes it easy to pocket. The gowns you make us wear for diagnostic imaging procedures are without pockets, however, so I have successfully fashioned makeshift lanyards for my case by simply GorillaTaping a suitable length of paracord (with knots tied in each end) to the underside of the case. While this getup can’t be kept on one’s person during the actual operation of the X-ray source, it is unobtrusive enough to be able to be smuggled into examination rooms so that it’s close at hand when the moment comes when one’s hearing devices must be applied or removed.
My objective in designing the SpudCap(sule)®️ was not to subvert hospital protocols, but rather, it was to ensure the proximity and accessibility of my hearing aids, when they were needed in order to dialogue with my caregivers.
[During the ER visit to which I referred in my previous post, I presented doctors with a rather different set of facts. I had recently had a cortisone injection to my sacroiliac joint. The injection must have come too close to a nerve, and resulted in such intense pain that it precipitated an arrhythmia (right bundle branch block), and abnormally high blood pressure. The DD was uncommon enough that a rather long medical interrogation was necessary, during which I was obliged to wear my hearing aids, which had never been properly fitted to give me good comprehension. The frustration on the part of my caregivers was so pronounced that a nurse actually asked me if my aids were working. My inability to understand and answer questions on the first pass made me feel old, dull-witted, and disabled.][No imaging was involved in this episode, but I was prepared!]
My point is that medical professionals should not require me to check my hearing prosthetics at the door. They are part of me, without which I cannot function, and it’s no more appropriate to treat these as “checked baggage” as it would be to ask a patient to leave their prosthetic leg at the front desk.