A LIFE changing operation which restored ?hearing? to a Devon woman has encouraged her to set up a support group stretching out to residents in the west of the county. Wendy Evans spent the last 40 years struggling with single-sided hearing loss until she had a life changing Baha ? a bone conduction hearing implant ? operation last year. Not only has her Baha made Wendy realise just how much she had been missing out on before, it has inspired her to launch a Baha Users? Support Group in conjunction with the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust. As a child, Wendy suffered a ruptured tympanic membrane and a cyst in her right ear which left her unable to hear on that side. An operation 15 years ago for the removal of the cysts and a reconstruction of the bones in the middle ear failed to improve matters and Wendy soldiered on being deaf in one ear. She did try conventional hearing aids but as her problem was conductive hearing loss, they were not a great deal of help and she continued having her ?good? ear towards the sounds that she wanted to hear. Despite working as a manager in the NHS since 1979, Wendy only discovered the Baha system during a routine appointment with her consultant at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in December 2005. He explained that Bahas differ from conventional hearing aids as they are not located within the ear but are attached to an implant in the skull directly behind the ear. Pioneered in 1987, the Baha system uses the patient?s skull to transfer sound from their deaf side to the functioning cochlea in the hearing ear. The device has three main parts ? a small titanium implant which is placed in the bone of the skull, a speech processor and supporting filler which links the implant and processor. The speech processor uses a microphone to pick up sounds on the non-hearing side and turns them into sound waves which are transmitted through the skull to the functioning ear. This gives the person the sensation of ?hearing? from their deaf side. Wendy had the procedure under a local anaesthetic and although the team at the hospital were fantastic she wished she had been able to talk to someone else who had actually been through it and could have helped prepare her and encourage her through the initial discomfort. In March she set up a support group at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for Baha users or potential users to discuss any problems or concerns they may have and offer advice they would like to share. Wendy, who lives in Cullompton, said: ?My Baha has changed my life in a way I hadn?t envisaged. I feel it is my mission to spread the good word and it is great to hear other people?s experiences and to help new users who might feel it is daunting.? More than 7,000 people in the UK have received a Baha since the device was pioneered. There are approximately 200 patients fitted with one in the Devon area at present. To find out more about the support group contact Wendy on 01884 831301.