[UnderProtest]

Not even a little bit but that's a fascinating device.

The hearing aid you linked uses light to activate a transducer that's been placed against the tympanic membrane (eardrum). It could have used a wire, radio waves, whatever.

This technique is a combination of a viral infection that transfers light-sensitivity genes into the inner ear and a surgical implant that produces light in the inner ear modulated in response to sound.

One is an externally worn device and the other is a combination of surgery and viral gene-editing. They're "akin" in that they both use light as part of the system. Well, I guess they also both use devices made from baryonic matter.