ATTENTION:Wirear brings futuristic design to the hearing impaired

starship winger

starship winger

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
43
Reaction score
0
i cant image that new desgined, i would like get this next my hearing aid future!!!! how much cost worth it? it's didnt said how much..::cool:


Ruined your hearing with too much loud music? Take a peek into the future with Wirear, a fashion-conscious hearing-aid concept by Australian student designer Sun Kyung Sunwoo. She noticed a number of problems with current hearing aids, and attempts to overcome those faults while designing a hearing aid that looks more like a piece of jewelry than a techno-device.

First, she's improved the sound quality by locating the microphone in front of the ear, using the sound-gathering shape of the folds of the ear to achieve the most natural sound fidelity. The speaker is placed within the ear canal, also improving the sound while reducing echo. As a result, this design has the benefits of both in-the-ear and behind-the-ear hearing aid designs, as well as reduced feedback.

How did she solve other hearing aid design problems? See a diagram on the next page.
Sunwoo also solves the problem of short battery life, designing the unit to be powered by a micro fuel cell that uses hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuel. Even though this fuel-cell technology isn't quite ready yet, there will soon be a fuel cell that will be up to the task, with an estimated life of six years rather than the three weeks of a conventional zinc battery.

Finally, the unit is built around a flexible wire that makes its shape completely customizable. It's a beautiful concept, innovative enough to make the shortlist of the Australian Design Awards. — Charlie White
 

Attachments

  • wirear_front.jpg
    wirear_front.jpg
    85.2 KB · Views: 19
  • wirear_diagram.jpg
    wirear_diagram.jpg
    63.3 KB · Views: 12
6 years of battery life? That would be fantastic and very cost effective. Also I notice there are no ear moulds, which would be another cost saving. It looks very good aesthetically too. :thumb:
 
I dunno i think it looks a little weird...good on the battery saving and such but i dunno ..there's something i dont like about it
 
starship winger said:
i cant image that new desgined, i would like get this next my hearing aid future!!!! how much cost worth it? it's didnt said how much..::cool:


Ruined your hearing with too much loud music? Take a peek into the future with Wirear, a fashion-conscious hearing-aid concept by Australian student designer Sun Kyung Sunwoo. She noticed a number of problems with current hearing aids, and attempts to overcome those faults while designing a hearing aid that looks more like a piece of jewelry than a techno-device.

First, she's improved the sound quality by locating the microphone in front of the ear, using the sound-gathering shape of the folds of the ear to achieve the most natural sound fidelity. The speaker is placed within the ear canal, also improving the sound while reducing echo. As a result, this design has the benefits of both in-the-ear and behind-the-ear hearing aid designs, as well as reduced feedback.

How did she solve other hearing aid design problems? See a diagram on the next page.
Sunwoo also solves the problem of short battery life, designing the unit to be powered by a micro fuel cell that uses hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuel. Even though this fuel-cell technology isn't quite ready yet, there will soon be a fuel cell that will be up to the task, with an estimated life of six years rather than the three weeks of a conventional zinc battery.

Finally, the unit is built around a flexible wire that makes its shape completely customizable. It's a beautiful concept, innovative enough to make the shortlist of the Australian Design Awards. — Charlie White
Click to expand...

Wirear- A revolutionary design for the hearing aid - Australian Design Award - Dyson Student Award
 
It looks like a tiny snake coiling around the ear lobe. :giggle:

6 years of battery life...wowwwww!
 
I'd love to get a battery life like that for my CI - as it is, I get barely 2 days for THREE batteries!
 
did the article say fuel cell? would that be a very tiny engine chugging behind your ear? I assume that hearing people would hear, 'do I hear a engine idling somewhere?'
 
Strange hearing aid! I would love that design. That would be much needed break from such boring BTE lol.

It would be very very nice to have Hydrogen fuelcell for CI! I bet cost would be prohibitave.

Have you ever heard little known "Solarbird" project. Japan is experimenting satellite that have solar panels and produce electricity convert it and send to earth via microwave energy to microwave receiver to convert back to electricity to power small electronics. They say it is strong enuf to power the walkman radio and many electronics.

It would be very benefical for CI and Hearing aid. Using special microwave receiver, it'll power as long as you are above ground and perhap in building. But underground like subway, cave ect would be disadvantage. it would be a free energy thing. You can check out by google search "solarbird project". They should already sent experimental satellite last year or this year.

Catty
 
Very sexy, but the article needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This kind of design contest has almost nothing to do with feasibility. I'd guess the designer's thought process went: "what if we put a hearing aid in an earring ... it'd have to be a big earring. Hmm. And a fuel cell would be kinda cool!"

Fuel cells in the mainstream market may be 5-6 years off as the designer predicts, but I would bet they won't be small enough for a hearing aid by then. (My roommate is an environmental engineer with an interest in green energy, so he has talked my ears of, no pun intended, on this subject.)
 
WELL I like it.I hate it when my ear feels hot or sweaty from earmold would love to get 6 yrs battery life.Wonder if the battery company's would got nuts like the gas conglomarates do every time someone comes up with ideas to do away with gasoline for cars?Theres got to be a ton of revenue with hearing aid batteries.
 
One thing for sure, no more itchy ear canels with this design. :D I've a latex allergy and I couldn't believe the difference that a non latex mold made for my ear when I still wore my hearing aid.

Now I'm sure this design would help with mild losses but I'm not so sure about moderate losses - let alone profound losses.
 
Back
Top