Lochaid
Creating a hearing aid for underserved communities around the world, all for less than a dollar.
The Challenge
The Average price of a hearing aid in the USA is $4,700, The Bhamla Lab’s goal is to create a low cost, minimal component hearing aid to address age related hearing loss.
After a successful trial of a minimum viable product version of the LoCAHid, a box with basic buttons and dials, hung around the neck, Dr Saad Bhamla wanted to make the next version that could be certified as a hearing aid, be comfortable to wear, be unconventional in its design and still cost less than $1 to make (at scale production).
The Outcome
A bold re-imagination of what a hearing aid could be. This evolution on LoCAHid is certifiable, functional and easy to use; with ongoing feasibility studies looking into distribution models, open sourcing and manufacturing costs.
The work was carried out in partnership with Kyunas who provided the Hardware, Software and Acoustic skills vital to the success of this project.
Client
The Bhamla Lab
Sector
NGO
Audio Technology
Expertise
Product & Industrial Design
UX & UI Design
Batch Manufacturing & 3D printing
Business Development & Strategy
Graphic Design & Visualisation
To find out more about our work for The Bhamla Lab or any of our other projects, get in touch.
Lochaid v2
LoCHAid (Low Cost Hearing Aid) Version 2 is a huge leap forward for the project - which you can read more about here on the Lab’s website - both in terms of technology and design.
With a neckband approach we were able to split the PCB and the battery, balancing the LoCHAid’s centre of gravity and aesthetics. Comfortable to wear and easy to control with a dial switch controlling the volume and its on / off status.
Forrest and the team at Kyunas worked collaboratively across 2 continents and 4 timezones in order to bring this project to a point where the Lab could get LoCHAid V2 into the hands of users.
Assembly instructions created as part of the project allow the Lab to order the hardware components and FDM 3D printed parts independently, so that they can scale and test LoCHAid V2 whilst development for the project continues.
“the acoustics are amazing - this is the best audio I have heard in the LoCHAid so far - I’m using it for my zoom calls and walking around with it - so cool!”
- Dr Saad Bhamla
“I also compared it (Lochaid) to a commercial hearing aid in one ear, while eating tacos in LA on the roadside and they both were exactly the same!”
- Dr Saad Bhamla
The Development
Working collaboratively between the Lab’s brief and the hardware limitations we knew the creative direction for this project likely sat around the neck.
Initial cardboard prototypes validated this and we quickly jumped into CAD modelling to further refine the design from an aesthetic, user and hardware perspective; bearing in mind an initial batch manufacturing run utilising 3D printed parts.
Kyunas’ talented acoustic, software and hardware capabilities developed the V2 to match the certifications for a hearing aid - all at a fraction of the cost.
