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Tuesday, 26th July 2005 (6182 views)

The RNID are hoping that a new display at the Victoria & Albert Museum will help push the design of hearing aids forward.<br/><br/>The “Future of Hearing” display, showing at the Twentieth Century gallery at the V&A, depicts a number of radical designs intended to revolutionise hearing aids in the modern era.<br/><br/>“Hearwear" designs seek to mix functional hearing aids with contemporary fashions, with some of the more extravagant examples including gold, platinum and silver components.<br/><br/>The RNID, which represents nine million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK, is hoping that the display will open up general acceptance of hearing aids as a fashionable accessory as well as a functional device.<br/><br/>Certain stigma is believed to be attached to prescribed hearing aids, which commonly put off their wearers with their appearance.<br/><br/>But the RNID, together with Blueprint design magazine and the creative agency Wolff Olins, has now commissioned 15 product designers to "rethink the future of hearing products".<br/><br/>The prototypes revolve around the mantra that hearing aids must be small and discreet, with some designs including glasses with four built-in microphones.<br/><br/>The RNID hopes technology companies will develop some of the ideas so that they will become available in the marketplace.<img alt="track" src="http://feeds.directnews.org.uk/feedtrack/dn.gif?feedid=196&itemid=15011074"/>

 

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