Hearing Aid Stand/Remote Control Carrying Case/Multi-Function Cleaning Tool
Owning a hearing aid comes with the responsibility of storing and maintaining it properly. Accessories made for hearing aids typically include carrying cases, dryers for removing moisture, cleaning brushes and wires, magnets for handling the small batteries, and remote controls for changing the settings on the hearing aids.
Because of the fact that there is a lack of product identity which would associate them as a hearing aid accessory and also not having a central location for which these items can be stored, it can be frustrating for the user as they would be easily misplaced.
With the hearing aid stand concept, it integrates the various accessories for hearing aids and serve as a central location for the hearing aids. Consisting of a dryer, charging dock, multi-function cleaning tool, and a remote control carrying case, it projects visual cohesion, allowing the user to easily identify the components while minimizing the chances of misplacement of items. The wood finish gives the product a more natural appearance, allowing it to blend in with the environment which it presents itself in. There would be alternative wood finishes to match room decor.
The compact carrying case incorporates remote control functions for the hearing instruments. Slightly larger than a credit card and less than an inch thick, this design is less cumbersome than most other carrying cases, while having the added convenience of controlling the hearing instrument. With an LCD screen on top, it displays program number and name, along with volume settings and date/time.
The multi-function cleaning tool consists of a brush, a vent wire for the tubes, and a battery magnet. The integration of these tools gives it a stronger identity, while the handle size is enlarged for an easier and more comfortable handling.
Looking at various areas in the hearing aid industry where the need for innovation will help enhance user experience, as well as increase visibility and social acceptance of its products. This is an ongoing project that began with a focus on the hardware side including the hearing aid itself.
Hearing Aid
Currently, most hearing aids that dominate the market are non-rechargeable behind-the-ear style, commonly referred to as BTE, as the rechargeable ones are still relatively rare and far too expensive for most to afford. A non-rechargeable BTE hearing aid requires users to constantly replace the battery by “picking” the battery door open with a finger, which can be problematic amongst the elderly users. With that in mind, we decided to rethink the way the battery compartment is designed.
Using a hinge similar to those typically found in clamshell phones, the battery door “snaps” into place when opening or closing, with the battery placed in a cradle to prevent accidental dropping. The door would have an embedded magnetic strip for a secure closure. Inside the compartment, the battery would be placed flat to allow easier removal/placement with a battery magnet. The side of the door has raised “bumps” to indicate where the fingers would grip the door to open.
Another issue with current BTEs is the identification of the left and right earpieces. The industry uses blue and red to identify left and right, respectively. However, on most BTEs the color indicators are typically very small and are located on the inside of the body, making it hard and frustrating to identify which is what. With the new concept, the color indicator is incorporated onto the program change button. Enlarged and shifted to the side of the hearing aid body, this allows the user to quickly identify the left and right earpieces, at the same time making it easier for the user to change program settings by lightly tapping the ear. This also allows the volume buttons on the back to be larger in size, again making it easier for the user to access the controls.
Lastly for the hearing aid concept, it incorporates a silicone rubber material on the surface where the skin makes contact with the earpiece. This provides a more comfortable feel for the user, which at the same time, also acts as a left/right earpiece indicator.
Another coup, and you read it here first. A few years back there was an awesome itunes visualization tool called ‘cover flow’ - which was written by a steelskies - probably one guy. That software was then bought and incorporated into both iTunes and the Apple finder and other areas where a horizontal scrolling list with icons became handy. This buyout presumably added deserved riches to the writer. Now, one of my favorite visualizers, Magnetosphere, and their developers, the barbarian group, have been eaten by the mighty Apple giant.
So, if you’ve downloaded the new iTunes, and are waiting for my post on the genius feature, instead just turn on full screen visualizer -CMD-T and marvel at this new addition. It sort of looks like fireworks, but with a better beat to it, and beware, it can be mesmerizing!
11 Sep, 2008
Posted by: Michael In: Off topic
I haven’t gotten past the ‘edit everything’ part…
Todays announcement of Amazon’s purchase of Shelfari gave me a good grin. In researching a project for an educational company, I had stumbled upon this service and had marveled at its unique spin on social networking. That is, social networking around a subject. Many sites seem to focus on me and my friends, and then all the topics we can share together. This assumes you have friends, and also assumes that we all contribute to the same site. I know many other sites (twitter, plaxo) that take a lazier approach that don’t network for networks sake, but they still have vague value propositions for me.
Shelfari, however, hooked me in immediately. With a few quick steps, I was signed up and somehow had imported my whole library of books, I even seemed to explore other peoples books and had the lovely interaction of saying “me too” and importing books I had read from others. The experience was reminiscent of literally going through someone’s bookshelf and comparing tastes and experiences. I can see how you could go even deeper, but I liked that on a cursory level I had started a conversation about something interesting, and could come and go as I pleased. Having my ‘books’ surround me made me feel less boring than I usually feel when I load twitter. “Standing in line at Ikea” may have been my most profound twitter post, sadly.
All this being said, Amazon acquired the site for its User Experience, and that also pleases me, that innovation and attention to user experience adds up to profits for the creator. In the same way corkd in its time showed enough UX to be bought by Gary Vaynerchuk, I see that innovative experiences do make their way to the forefront and become a valuable asset to any business plan.
The New York Times has unveiled an archival service called Times Machine which archives the past 100 years of the newspaper of record. Along with the benefit of seeing ads for trusses, we see a very sophisticated and robust interface using HTML + CSS + Javascript of a very easy way to scan large amounts of printed text. There have been so many of these kind of apps, almost always using Flash with proprietary back end processing, it’s refreshing to see these sorts of interfaces with the code all public and easy to steal learn from.
In this case, the clever interaction design (and a hurdle for HTML) is to pair the actual article image (spanning multiple columns) with the text summary. The implementation makes scanning the paper a breeze and has a great visual clue of highlighting the image and overlaying the summary text. I’m delving into the markup to see how they managed to dynamically pair the images with the representative text, and seeing what other magic is under the hood.
Another nice feature was the rotating ’share’ button, which takes care of not prominently promoting digg or reddit, but subtly reminding users that if they like to vote, here’s where to do it. The only bad feature is that this is for paying customers only, but NYT has made free its online articles, hopefully in time this will follow suit, the days of microfilm readers may be numbered.
