Why do all hearing aids have to make you look old and unstylish? Why can’t they be as cool as those modern open-design earbuds? This very predicament inspired a design house to propose a hearing aid form that shifts assumptions and stereotyping. The design is backed by viable features and useful functionality that’ll make any traditional hearing aid user interested in the idea.
Meet Claro, a battery-powered, Bluetooth-connected pair of hearing aids that redefines style without compromising any aspect of functionality. Adapting the open-ear design that we’ve seen on the Bose Open Earbuds, these ergonomic hearing aids seamlessly sit on the user’s ears, sidelining the common medical gadget aesthetics for good.
The hearing aid can be connected to with upto 3 devices simultaneously – so you can connect it to your phone for taking calls, music player to listen to podcasts, or a laptop to join meetings in an instant. Those cables in arch form maximize the flexibility of use with different-shaped ears and wearing comforts. A useful feature comes in the form of inner ear biometrics that detects the Internal Carotid Artery for an unobstructed source of data.
The hearing aid is equipped with sensors to detect health and ear hygiene too. Loaded with advanced sensors for providing functions like pulse oximetry, heart rate and respiratory rate, the gadget eliminates the need for wearing a smartwatch or fitness tracker. To keep all the functions working obstruction-free, Claro can be charged in the provided case. If you are a constant user of hearing aids, you can also swap the internal replaceable batteries with a pair of rechargeable batteries to stay connected for longer without any interruptions.
We hope to see this product become a reality and that possibility cannot counted out as Crux Product Design is committed to bringing new-age solutions to their users.
Many people try to deny experiencing physical disabilities for fear of making them look weak. This is especially true when it comes to hearing problems that people feel they can simply ignore or wave off easily. Those who do admit to having some hearing disabilities, however, are hesitant to get hearing aids that are expensive, fragile, uncomfortable, and too conspicuous, as if announcing their handicap to everyone around them. That doesn’t have to be the case, especially with today’s advancements in technology, and fortunately, some people are indeed stepping up to design a less obnoxious and more reliable hearing aid, such as this concept that tries to check all the boxes that would encourage more people to wear them and enjoy the world as it was meant to be heard.
Despite how electronic components can now be so minuscule, most hearing aids still come in a large, two-piece design that, more often than not, clamps to the back of your ear. Such hearing aids are not only uncomfortable to wear, they also tend to put a very visible stigma on wearers, making them feel self-conscious and even ashamed to wear one. This leads to many owners abandoning these devices altogether, willing to sacrifice their happiness for the sake of their image.
Rezonance is a concept design that tries to think of a better solution that isn’t just more discreet but also more affordable and accessible in the long run. Instead of the typical clamping design, Rezonance employs bone conduction technology to be almost invisible. It’s a technology that is already used today on some wireless headphones, so it’s already a proven solution. By using bone conduction, there doesn’t need to be any visible part going into the person’s ear and Rezonance can stay hidden from view behind the wearer’s ear.
Instead of using clamping force to stay in place, the concept suggests an adhesive pad that’s similar to sports tape, ensuring that the material is not only waterproof but also reusable. Additionally, the components used to make the actual hearing aid are claimed to be quite cheap and easily available, which means that the final product itself doesn’t have to cost people an arm in exchange for their ear.
The design doesn’t specify whether Rezonance works only as a single piece or if you will need two for the full audio experience. Even then, it would still be a lot less cumbersome compared to the traditional hearing aid design. Of course, such a design will need to be verified first, especially by professionals, because a design that’s elegant yet ineffective will just end up disappointing and turning away people all the same.
I’ve never tried wearing a hearing aid but I’ve seen some relatives having to deal with aural problems by wearing these devices. They seem mostly bulky and hard to wear regularly that’s why some of them choose to remove them at times (although they might also want a bit of peace and quiet?). So when wireless earbuds started becoming popular, we knew it was only a matter of time before hearing aid makers started adapting some of the properties and features of these gadgets.
The Orka Two is a hearing aid that looks and feels more like a pair of wireless earbuds and this seems to be for the better for those who need help to have healthier hearing. The ergonomic and aesthetic design will actually encourage those who have previously been wary of wearing a device like this to finally get a hearing aid. It is pretty lightweight and has a “gentle curve” that will ensure the user’s comfort even when they wear it for a long time. It is also colored white which is apparently the most inclusive color, fitting with its simple, minimalist design. The charging case that comes with is also pretty easy to use and the hearing aid can be placed flat in the case instead of upright.
Features-wise, it has some new things that can help those with hearing problems communicate and adapt better with their surroundings. The AI DeNoise technology minimizes background noise and enhances speech clarity so the user gets a more natural hearing experience. It also has an Environmental Classifier that fine tunes the sounds around the user. The charging case has a built-in power bank so you can charge on the go and it also comes with controls so you don’t need a smartphone app to adjust the volume. It can also be connected to smart devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops and you can easily switch between devices.
The Orka Two doesn’t seem to want to complicate things for the user but at the same time brings several updated technology features to make life easier for those with hearing problems. You get simple controls in the case itself but you can also personalize features through the Orka Health app. The fact also that it seems to be non-intrusive and simple to put on and take off will also help those who need it the most to get into wearing hearing aids to improve their life.
“Medical devices don’t need to feel like a burden. Glasses are cool, so why can’t hearing aids be too?”
The spectacles are a stellar example of a medically corrective device that’s successfully transitioned into being an object of haute fashion. The pandemic saw a similar treatment to N95 face masks too, but for the most part, medical devices aren’t designed to ‘look good’. They’re either designed to be invisible (like those invisible braces that keep popping up in Instagram’s ads), or have such a medical-forward design that they actually end up deterring people. Nobody likes showing off their asthma inhaler or nebulizer, and people would much rather prefer a stylish walking stick over a pair of crutches.
Hearing aids fall within that domain too, with most people agreeing that they have a design that can attract unwanted attention or sympathy, even though the people wearing them would just like to live a normal lifestyle. Designed to look modern rather than medical, the Overtone hearing aids are just about as stylish as high-fashion TWS earbuds. They sit comfortably around your ear, with a minimal design that features a small ear clip and a metallic disc that looks almost like a Neuralink implant.
The Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids work to enhance your listening powers while being ‘unapologetically visible’. The individual earpieces hook to each ear, and pair with your smartphone to let you set up your hearing profile. Once configured, the Overtone earpieces let you clearly listen to sounds around you, while Bluetooth connectivity allows you to take calls or listen to music/watch videos through the earpieces themselves.
The Overtone was created by Berlin-based designers Nick Morgan-Jones and Gray Dawdy, who wanted to uplift hearing aids to a new fashion standard. “We’re building the hearing equivalent of designer eyewear,” said Morgan-Jones. To that very end, the Overtone has a design that feels minimal and universal. The transparent material and stainless steel details borrow directly from eyewear, while the overall design is made to augment your appearance by making you look like you’re from the future.
The Overtone is currently under development, with a waitlist open for people looking to buy their own pair of hearing wearables. The devices come with a 24-hr battery life on a full charge, and ship with a charging case that gives them an additional 36 hours of use.
People hard of hearing need all the help they can to be able to live a convenient life. Accessing information is a need, but let’s admit it is still a challenge to find the best hearing-enhancing wearables.
A team of designers was able to develop Decibels as a special set of wearables for those who do not want to wear hearing aids. Wearing one or a pair on your ears isn’t exactly comfortable, so there is a demand for a better solution. There are millions of people that need to wear hearing aids to communicate, but the fact is, not everyone has access to the right equipment.
Designers: Nick Morgan-Jones and Gray Dawdy
Connecting with people can be easier with the Decibels Hearing Enhancers. The small device features designer hearing technology in a form that you will not be ashamed to wear. It’s not just an ordinary hearing aid or a medical device. People may even mistake this for an earbud.
Conventional hearing aids are usually hidden or associated with disabilities or getting old. With Decibels, such social stigma can be removed. But even if you have a problem with hearing, you don’t have to be ashamed, especially since the Decibels Hearing Enhancers are designed with a more modern and stylish look.
One of the designers, Nick Morgan-Jones, has hearing loss, so he knows the exact need to wear something more confidently. Hearing technology is more than just providing excellent audio. It should allow more people to be confident in how they look despite their physical limitations.
Decibels connect via Bluetooth and allow anyone to stream audio and hear the word. The hearing technology used is medical-grade, but the form isn’t something you will be ashamed to wear. The product comes with a compatible app that lets users measure their hearing profile. The app helps program the hearing device for personal hearing and audio needs.
Decibels will let you hear the world in full color. To achieve this, real-world sounds are enhanced. The device also offers clarity to speech to enjoy conversations like never before. The Decibels team calls these hearing enhancers and not hearing aids, but the technology is medical grade. It is designed to be seen and make ears open.
Price of the Decibels is $799, but you can reserve now and enjoy a 30% discount at $560. You can place your order for only $79. Learn more on Decibels.co and sign-up to know when the product will be out on the market.
Expanding its range to now include the Olive Max, Nevada-based Olive Union is quickly becoming the Apple of hearing-disabled-specific tech. Often in the pursuit to make a sexy product, designers tend to forget a section of their audience that isn’t focused on owning the product as a fashion or style statement. Take for instance the Apple Watch. The wearable debuted in 2015 and over the years evolved into an Apple-made smartwatch that could track your heartbeat, sleep, exercise, fitness, heart rhythm, steps, and a variety of body metrics. However, the ability to track one’s period (a pretty useful application for Apple’s female audience) wasn’t introduced until 2019, likely because it didn’t occur to Apple that the smartwatch could serve this purpose. The same goes for the AirPods. With as many microphones as it has, and with Apple’s most advanced processors sitting on the inside analyzing real-world sounds and computing advanced noise-cancellation algorithms, the AirPods could just as easily serve as a pair of incredibly advanced hearing aids… but the reality is that it probably never occurred to Apple’s design or marketing team when they first envisioned the product. Luckily, in a meeting room somewhere on the other side of the planet in Tokyo, the idea came to Owen Song, founder of Olive Union.
Designed to be worn by people with anywhere from normal hearing to severe hearing loss, the Olive Max are a pair of inclusively-designed TWS earbuds that give you precise control over your audio… more on that in a bit. For starters, the Olive Max come with a major boost in their volume capabilities, with now the ability to be 150% more loud, so people with hearing loss can easily listen to audio. Simultaneously, the Olive Max’s noise reduction algorithm comes with its own improvements, bringing stray noise down by 13 decibels, so you can focus on just the right sounds without any of that annoying background noise.
150% volume up from Olive Pro. Much louder and clearer than ever before.
The Olive Max function both as hearing aids as well as audio playback devices, designed to work in conjunction with your smartphone. The Olive Max pairs with your phone using the Olive app, guiding you through a short, 5-minute hearing test. During this time each individual earpiece gets calibrated to suit your hearing (some people with hearing loss in only one ear can easily make one earpiece louder than the other to compensate). Once you’re done calibrating the Olive Max, they’re intuitive and easy to use, whether you’re listening to music, conversations, the world around you, or all of them combined! The Olive Max app lets you control playback, tinker with EQ settings, adjust volumes for voices, music, and external world noise, and even configure the noise cancellation to suit your needs.
While the Olive Max gives you advanced control over what you hear, its standout feature is what the company calls ‘Adaptive Hearing’. The Olive Max are now smart enough to intuitively understand where you are and adjust noise automatically so you don’t have to fiddle with the app every time you go from quiet indoors to noisy outdoors. The earphones capture external sound using their built-in microphones and identify different noises based on your different locations, be it at home, in a noisy restaurant, in the office, or on the sidewalk. They then analyze the sound to determine what’s important audio and what’s external chatter and isolate/amplify the important sounds and mute/attenuate the unimportant noises.
For context, the Olive Max can, in theory, tell the difference between you chatting with colleagues during a presentation, or sitting in a café near a noisy table, adjusting to either focus on the voices, or drown them out. The earphones are exceptionally good at picking up on human voices, and whether you’re listening to someone talk to you in person, or your podcast host talk to you from across the internet, the Olive Max’s audio drivers help deliver crisp, clear vocal audio. Additionally, just like with every TWS earbud on the market, the Olive Max let you do things like make calls or perform voice searches with ease.
The Olive Max is the third in Olive Union’s ‘hearables’ catalog, following the Olive and Olive Pro. Designed to be powerful hearing-assisting devices in the avatar of incredibly sexy wearables, the Olive Max cleverly turn a ‘medical aid’ into a fashion-forward product that people will love to wear and perhaps even flaunt. While last year’s Olive Pro was subtly modeled to resemble the AirPods Pro, this year’s Olive Max goes for a larger design that crams in a better battery and comes with ear-hooks for a secure fit, quite neatly resembling the Powerbeats Pro. The earpieces also boast of snug-fitting silicone tips that ensure the Olive Max can be worn even with active lifestyles, making it the perfect (and probably the only) sport-friendly modern-looking smart hearing aids.
While their internal tech is pretty impressive, I can’t help but keep going back to their design, which shines across as a beacon for inclusivity. Pop the Olive Max on and there’s absolutely no way you’ll know that they’re hearing aids. In fact, calling them hearing aids would be limiting, since they’re quite literally made for everyone, regardless of your hearing ability. What drives home that inclusive approach even further is the Olive Max’s price. Unlike hearing aids that can easily go into thousands of dollars, the Olive Max are priced like your average pair of TWS earbuds, with a 45% discounted tag of $299 USD. The Olive Max is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo, and the company hopes to have production begin soon after, with worldwide deliveries in November 2022.
See-Through Captions is a simple, understated solution for the DHH community that uses a transparent subtitle display screen to project conversations with ASR technology and incorporate facial expressions to bridge communication gaps between DHH and hearing individuals.
While there are some adaptive designs that aim to help those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH), most of them rely too heavily on subtitles and audio, losing out on physical gestures and facial expressions. Some products are designed to convert sign language to text, some AI robots are meant to replace hearing dogs, and then there’s even a wearable device that translates sign language into speech. Awarded by James Dyson with Japan’s highest award, a team of designers from Digital Nature Group developed a new solution for bridging communication gaps between hearing and hard-of-hearing folks called See-Through Captions.
Developed for those who are deaf or experience varying levels of hearing loss, See-Through Captions was designed by a team of hearing and deaf individuals and tested in real-life situations to ensure its effectiveness. See-Through Captions is essentially a transparent projector that converts audio to subtitles and displays those conversations on its two-way screen. Since most pre-existing related products only focus on translating audio to subtitles, Digital Nature Group gave See-Through Captions a transparent screen to guarantee that users’ facial expressions and physical gestures aren’t missed. In addition to the incorporation of physical expression, Digital Nature Group improved its automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to optimize real-time captioning and ensure an accurate relay of communication.
The See-Through Captions product comes in two different physical forms, stationary and portable, so the ASR technology can be applied across different interactions. In developing See-Through Captions, Digital Nature Group demonstrated different prototypes in a museum setting. In the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, See-Through Captions was used in its stationary form at the museum’s front desk as well as its portable form on guided tours. Following its demonstration, Digital Nature Group decided some improvements could be made to the size and amount of text displayed on the portable product. Overall, See-Through Captions is a simple, understated solution for the DHH community that incorporates facial expression as well as accurate ASR technology to bridge communication gaps between DHH and hearing individuals.
Cochlear implants help people with profound single-sided or bilateral hearing loss get the sense of sound but come with an impending downside. The implanted user is unable to enjoy any music since the implant distorts the musical signature. Any audio frequency will sound very different/distorted and, at times, even horrible. The distortion leads to a “sense of loss,” as per Dr. Ben Oliver, Associate Professor in Composition at the University of Southampton. This problem prompted designer Woojin Jang, Jiwoo Son, and Junwoo Lim to design headphones tailored to deliver a musical experience across physical boundaries.
Dubbed Ordi, the stylish wearable gadget aims towards lifting the self-esteem of people with cochlear implants. The idea takes inspiration from the bone conduction headphones that transmit the sound by vibrating the head and jawbones. This tech bypasses the need to relay the sound to the eardrum and the inner ear. The designers combined the bone conduction technology and the features of the cochlear implant into a sound processor for a musical experience shared via smartphones or any other portable audio device. Unlike standard headphones, the Ordi is designed to automatically adjust the left and right ear balance by placing sound processing transmitters on both sides.
The result is fabulous headphones designed to sit right behind the ear for a stylish look. Much attention has been invested in the aesthetics of these unique headphones for people with a cochlear implant – allowing them to wear and share the device with pride. Plus, the fact that they enable hearing to go beyond words into a piece of soothing music experience is a feat on its own. Ordi is definitely a stylish wearable concept design that deserves to see the light of day – the world needs to be a place for every individual to experience the wonder of music.
Alphabet’s moonshot factory is reportedly developing a wearable device that could augment your hearing. According to a report from Insider, the company’s X lab is working on a project codenamed Wolverine. Since 2018, the team has produced multiple pr...
The Olive Pro is inclusion at its very best. Often in the pursuit to make a sexy product, designers tend to forget a section of their audience that isn’t focused on owning the product as a fashion or style statement. Take for instance the Apple Watch. The wearable debuted in 2015 and over the years evolved into an Apple-made smartwatch that could track your heartbeat, sleep, exercise, fitness, heart-rhythm, steps, and a variety of body metrics. However, the ability to track one’s period (a pretty useful application for Apple’s female audience) wasn’t introduced until 2019. The truth simply was that even with its vast resources, it didn’t occur to Apple that the smartwatch could serve this purpose. One could say the same about the AirPods Pro. With as many microphones as it has, and with Apple’s most advanced processors sitting on the inside analyzing real-world sounds and computing advanced noise-cancellation algorithms, the AirPods could just as easily serve as a pair of incredibly advanced hearing aids… but the reality is that it probably never occurred to Apple’s design or marketing team when they first envisioned the product. Luckily, in a meeting room somewhere on the other side of the planet in Tokyo, the idea came to Owen Song, founder of Olive Union.
Olive Union’s been on a mission since 2016 to make impeccable TWS earphones that serve that niche audience with hearing aids designed with the same attention to detail as consumer tech. In fact, its 2019 Smart Ear series even won a Best of CES award in January this year. Their latest earphones, the Olive Pro, are a double whammy. Designed to work BOTH as TWS earphones for most consumers, as well as FDA-approved hearing aids for the impaired, the Olive Pro provides an enhanced hearing for everything – nearby sounds, music, and conversations.
Outwardly, they slightly resemble the AirPods Pro with the bulb and stem design, and with the silicone earpiece… and believe it or not, that’s not subtle plagiarism, it’s a design feature. You see, by bridging the gap between medical devices and consumer-tech, the Olive Pro make it ‘cooler’ and less of a social stigma for the hearing impaired to wear these aids. Designed to help them blend into society, the Olive Pro’s consumer-centric aesthetic helps normalize an affliction. On the hardware front, the Olive Pro boasts of powerful drivers and microphones that work to seamlessly distinguish between noises, voices, and music. Advanced algorithms help cut noise, amplify voices, and provide the audio clarity required for both earphones as well as FDA-approved hearing aids. The Olive Pro earbuds have two modes – a Music Mode that’s best suited for audio streaming, and a Hear Mode, which augments audio from around you, letting you attenuate noise, boost vocals, and listen to external audio with crisp quality and at a higher volume.
What sets the Olive Pro apart is the way you use it. A powerful app gives you absolute control over your hearing experience, allowing you to tweak EQs, calibrate noise-canceling, and even introduce external sounds into your mix, so you can listen to music while still hearing what’s happening around you. Switch to Hear mode and the earbuds are a different beast altogether. The in-app hearing test calibrates each earbud to your hearing, amplifying audio to account for any hearing loss, and lets you choose what audio you want the earbuds to focus on – General, TV, or Conversations. Two multi-directional mics help the earbuds run their ANC algorithms (which are constantly improved thanks to machine learning), while also giving you the ability to have crystal clear conversations with people on calls or video-conferences.
In their bid to modernize hearing aids, the Olive Pro makes a conscious effort to stick to the consumer-tech approach. The earbuds come with a wireless charging case that gives them up to 20 hours of use, and are built to be IPx4 water-resistant, which means they’re okay to wear to the beach or the gym. Bluetooth 5.1 ensures a robust, unfaltering connection, while support for your phone’s native voice-assistant puts the Olive Pro at par with most TWS earbuds, and light-years ahead of most hearing aids. Besides, that $200 price tag really does wonders for making great tech accessible and affordable!
Olive Pro: 2-in-1 Hearing Aids & Bluetooth Earbuds
The Olive Pro features brilliant speech understanding and automated background noise cancellation combined to bring true, ultra-crisp sound quality for a better music listening, clearer conversations, and less noise.
Clearer Conversation With Less Noise
Voice detection and noise cancellation powered by machine learning. Listen to ambient sounds with focused enhancement on specific sound sources.
Voice Enhancement with Noise Reduction – Crystal clear speech without unwanted noise.
Improved Maximum Gains, Amplification & Stereo Sound
150% louder and clearer than ever before!
Hear Clearly Without Distortion
Tuned to capture 99.8% of sounds within range without distortion. Sound modes that can be adjusted to your environment.
Distinguishes and Amplifies Human Voices
Amplifies human voices while cutting out unwanted noise to deliver crisp conversations.
Listen to Music and Make Calls
World-class balanced amateur speakers (BA Drivers), deliver immersive HD audio with personalized music EQ.
Prevent Hearing Loss and Enhance Your Hearing
Take a 5-minute hearing test with the app to test your hearing anytime. Customize the sound settings for music and live listening.
