Global Kids Contest Launched on World Inventors Day to Raise Awareness of Hearing Loss and Treatment Benefits
INNSBRUCK, Austria, Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — MED-EL, a leading provider and inventor of hearing implant systems, today launched its annual global search for inventions of the future through a global competition for children, ideas4ears.
The contest invites children ages 6 to 12 from around the world to create an invention to improve the quality of life for people with hearing loss. Entries can be submitted via video, drawing or sculpture, but the most important factor is for young people to think big and channel their ideas to support those who cannot hear.
The inspiration behind ideas4ears and the main judge for the contest is Geoffrey Ball. Geoffrey has an extraordinary life story, as he became deaf as a young child, then invented a revolutionary middle ear implant to treat his own hearing loss.
“Inventing is often a process of elimination. In the case of the VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE, I had to build and test many devices that either didn’t work well enough or didn’t work at all until I finally came up with the perfect design. When I was inventing the components for the middle ear implant at Stanford University, people were telling me 100 reasons why my invention wouldn’t work, but I just needed one reason why it would,” explained Geoffrey Ball, technical director of MED-EL and inventor of the middle ear implant. middle ear VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE.
As an accomplished inventor, with over 100 patent applications to his name and many medical device products developed, Geoffrey has used his life experiences to act as a source of encouragement for ideas4ears’ young inventors, many of whom are users of hearing implants.
“To all children who have hearing loss and want to find a better solution for themselves, I say never stop inventing, believe in yourself, keep trying, follow your dreams and as Winston Churchill pointed out, never give up, never Never!” Geoffrey said.
The ideas4ears competition celebrates children’s creativity and aims to improve understanding of the challenges associated with hearing loss, as well as the benefits of treatment. Interested parents should visit www.ideas4ears.org/enter to submit their child’s entry. The deadline for entries is midnight on January 17, 2023.
Win fabulous prizes! There is a chance to win a trip to Innsbruck, Austria, and fabulous prize packages.
All ideas are welcome; the only criteria is that the inventions must have the potential to help improve the lives of people with hearing loss at any age. Follow the ideas4ears Facebook page to stay up to date on the contest.
About MED-EL
MED-EL Medical Electronics, a leader in implantable hearing solutions, is on a mission to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication and quality of life. The Austria-based private company was co-founded by industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, whose groundbreaking research led to the development of the world’s first multi-channel microelectronic cochlear implant (CI), which was successfully implanted in 1977 and was the basis of what is now known as modern CI. This laid the foundation for the successful growth of the company in 1990, when they hired their first employees. To date, MED-EL has more than 2,400 employees from over 80 countries and 30 locations around the world.
The company offers the widest range of implantable and non-implantable solutions to treat all types of hearing loss, enabling people in 134 countries to enjoy the gift of hearing with the help of a MED-EL device. MED-EL’s hearing solutions include middle ear and cochlear implant systems, a combination system of electrical acoustic stimulation hearing implants, brainstem hearing implants, as well as surgical and non-surgical bone conduction devices. www.medel.com
www.medel.com/press-room
Photo – linkLogo – link
View original content: enlace
