Low-Cost Hearing Aid

Helping age-related hearing loss for less than one dollar

The LoCHAid is built from standard electronic components housed in a 3D-printed shell. The prototype resembles a wearable music player.

The average price of a hearing aid in the united states is $4,700. Our goal is to create a low-cost, minimal component hearing aid to address age-related hearing loss.

As an undergraduate in Mumbai, Dr. Bhamla wanted to help out his grandparents by buying them hearing aids, only to realize that he couldn’t afford the expensive price. With this project, we hope to alleviate cost concerns when it comes to purchasing hearing aids.

Saad's personal story for developing low-cost hearing aids. Blurb from podcast interview on This Week in Hearing podcast. Full podcast link.

Our affordable and accessible hearing aid device (‘LoCHAid’) is a minimal hearing aid for those with age-related hearing loss. The components of LoCHAid cost only 98 cents when purchased in bulk and are easy to put together.

LoCHAid can be built by an unskilled user in less than 30 minutes.

This project has been featured in Science, Forbes, BBC SCience focus, NEWSWEEK, and more.

Science

BBC

Forbes

Major questions

1) Can we create an effective open sourced low-cost, and accessible hearing aid?

2) Can LoCHAid address the needs of those with age-related hearing loss?

3) How does the LoCHAid compare to traditional hearing aids?

What we’ve discovered

LoCHAid costs less than one dollar to manufacture.

When mass produced at 10,000 units with earphones, a coin-cell battery and a holder, the device has a cost of $0.98 and can be manufactured by a minimally skilled user with a soldering iron. You can find all the files and instructions on GitHub.

LoCHAid meets most of the targets set out by WHO Preferred Product Profile and Consumer Technology Association for hearing aids.

The hearing aid’s frequency response shows selectable gain in the range of 4-8 kHz, and mild to moderate gain between 200-1000 Hz, and shows very limited total distortion. Simulated measurements show that LoCHAid is well fitted to a range of age-related hearing loss profiles.

In a small pilot trial in Malawi, we found that no significant difference between the LoCHAid and a refurbished hearing aid

Over a one-month trial, 16 participants were fitted with the LoCHAid and a refurbished aid. Through sound quality and user experience surveys, our feasibility study found similar degree of improvement in hearing quality in participants.

Ongoing Work

We’re currently working on improving the device usability, compliance with FDA over-the-counter (OTC) regulations and translation of the device. If you are interested in partnering with us, please reach out.

Read the paper

Comparing outcomes of ultra-low-cost hearing aids to programmable, refurbished hearing aids for adults with high frequency hearing loss in Malawi: A feasibility study. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences (2023)

LoCHAid: An ultra-low-cost hearing aid for age-related hearing loss. PLOS ONE (2020).

Download the PCB files and build your own LoCHAid.

PDF

GITHUB