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CrunchGear » Archive » Solar-powered hearing aids help poor deaf folk

Did you know that there’s 250 million people around the world who are hearing-impaired? Even worse, two-thirds of them live in the developing world. Odds are, these people don’t have the type of money needed to buy conventional hearing aids, primarily because their expensive batteries last only about a week. What if you could design an affordable hearing aid for the world’s poor?

One man, Howard Weinstein, did such a thing. He helped develop a hearing aid that’s powered by the sun, eliminating the battery problem altogether. He was even able to put the very same deaf people to work, since the skill it takes to master sign language—”acute hand-eye coordination”—perfectly translates to soldering and other microelectronics work.

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Deafness

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Buffalo

I sure could use those solar-powered hearing aids. I am tired of ordering batteries by boxes and saving the spent batteries in a jar to recycle.

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It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.
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PowerON

I afraid it would blow up or either give cancer to head. yike. Let see how more expert goes so far...

Only good thing anyone would save money than waste battery daily. Ahhh.. Of course, the system in hearing aids would still need to replace to keep juice stay longer during mAh

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Research before you shoot me.

VamPyroX

Uh... how is this possible? Doesn't the hair block the sunlight? Unless, these hearing aids require a special hat to be worn to collect the sun's rays? or they have to shave their heads so that nothing block the solar panels?

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Buffalo

LOL! I think it is plug-in type like you do with a cell phone.

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It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.
- Gilbert Chesterton

PowerON

for long-hair user, oh dear, that would be difficult. Unless there is add cord to back or wear silly cap as solar-power. heh

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Research before you shoot me.