hearwear – the future of hearing. could hearing aids become as fashionable and desireable as glasses?......................................................................
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V&A victoria and albert museum, london 26 july 2005 - 5 march 2006 free admission http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/hear_wear/index.html --- could hearing aids become as fashionable and desireable as glasses? that’s the aim of RNID, the uk’s largest charity organisation for deaf and hard of hearing people, as it launches the first ever display demonstrating how products for hearing could look in future. the display features radical new designs for hearing products. concepts range from desirable and elegant jewellery such as a sleek necklace, glasses incorporating a hearing aid, and bold in-the-ear aids, to completely new concepts including devices to boost your hearing in noisy bars and products which ‘cancel’ noise, enabling you to control your sound environment by blocking out unwelcome sounds. one in seven of the population have hearing loss and this is likely to become one of the biggest health and social issues of our time as noise pollution soars and people live longer. millions of people who could benefit from wearing a hearing aid or hearing protection, are reluctant to do so. ‘we need a revolution in our thinking about hearing products. today there’s insufficient investment in the customer appeal of hearing aids. with the rise of new technologies, such as bluetooth, there is a blurring of the edges around hearing products. yet industry, particularly the consumer electronics industry, has been slow to recognise the vast potential of producing stylish, desirable hearing products that people want to use. hearwear demonstrates huge possibilities. there has been an incredible revolution in the design of glasses, why not in hearing aids?’ said john low the european market for hearing aids is worth £2.9 billion, yet with less than 30% per cent of people wearing them, the market penetration is remarkably low, and literally millions of people who could benefit are missing out. ‘if we act now, in five years time attitudes will be very different. by investing in new products for hearing, industry could both reap massive financial returns from this underexploited market, as well as overcoming the barriers to inclusion for millions of people.’ design writer, henrietta thompson, co-curator of hearwear, and herself hard of hearing since childhood commented, ‘A modern hearing aid though it might work brilliantly, has the potential to be so much more to millions of people, both in terms of what it can do and how it could look. too many people prefer to struggle to hear rather than wearing one. it's ridiculous today when we are surrounded by good design in all areas of our lives, that hearing aids have been forgotten in this way. with hearwear we asked the designers how we might break out of this pattern and create stylish and useful products that people might actually want to wear, whether they are deaf or not.’ hearwear is a RNID / blueprint project with wolff olins in association with the V & A. http://www.rnid.org.uk --- all participating designers have donated their time and include: the brewery pearson lloyd the alloy pearson matthews tangerine industrial facility ross lovegrove IDEO daniel charny human beans priestman goode guinea pig design hulger kinneir dufort design works --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	‘corona’ by tangerine allows the user to define their field of hearing . close range in a noisy bar or zoom when listening for something in the distance. --- ‘wearhead by hulger it's aimed at the kind of people who would proudly wear their big cans in the street, the type of person who's into their music enough to want to shut out the outside world (which means quite a lot of people). --- ‘enhance’ by kinneir dufort looks forward to a time when hearing aids will be sold over the counter in a variety of strengths of amplification. an affordable solution - the hearing equivalent of reading glasses. --- ‘universal hear-ring’ by pearson lloyd a basic core houses whatever technical specifications you want (from headphones or hands-free mobile attachments to high-tech digital hearing aids). this can then be customised with outer rings. bought separately, the rings can be changed regularly according to your mood, style, or the occasion. --- ‘goldfish’ by human beans is based on the notion that goldfish have a ten second memory, this ear piece constantly records ten seconds of sound. to activate the replay the wearer just waves their hand past their ear. --- ‘decibel’ by priestman goode is inspired by scientific studies that have shown a risk of cumulative damage to hearing when exposed to loud noise, and recommendations that commuters should protect their hearing when travelling on public transport, decibel allows you to protect your hearing by reducing high levels of ambient noise. you can also amplify sounds when you need to. ecibel links to your mobile, laptop or MP3 player – s o that you won’t miss a call. --- ‘surround sound’ by the industrial facility hijacks the popularity of glasses and incorporates hearing technology into the arms. the wearer will only hear sounds from their direction of view. --- ‘the beauty of inner space’ by ross lovegrove designed to cancel out the noise pollution of daily life and to amplify the sounds we would like to hear, it gives us complete control our individual sound environments. elegant and light in carbon composite, gold and silicone, it explores the possibilities of technology as body adornment. --- ‘svara’ by the brewery designed specifically for women and in particular for occasional wear, it is an amplification device that is controlled with subtle gestural movements, such as tucking your hair behind your ear, or sliding the pendant up and down the chain. the earpieces hang down your back when not in use. --- ‘soundspace’ by the alloy held inside the ear using a unique mechanism that removes the need for an ear mould, it results from rethinking the way hearing products fit inside the ear, making them more accessible and fashionable. a total hearing solution, it incorporates digital sound amplification and connectivity, and is available in different models, of which 'minimal', 'pro-sport' and 'statement' are displayed here. --- ‘table talk’ by IDEO is a range of bar furniture that allows clear conversations even when a background noise is very loud. a microphone system is linked to a conductive strip running round the edge of the table which uses the same T-loop technology that has been used by hearing aid users in banks and theatres for years. customers simply buy inexpensive earpieces at the bar which pick up sounds within the loop and amplify them.