Solar Ear is a low-cost hearing aid that gets its charge from solar-powered batteries which are much more affordable to people in developing nations than traditional batteries.
About 278 million people worldwide are estimated to have moderate-to-profound hearing loss in both ears. Most of them live in developing countries, with no access to the same technology people in industrialized nations enjoy (and often take for granted).
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 30 million hearing aids are needed annually in those nations, but current annual provision is less than 1 million. As a result, only a tiny fraction of the hearing impaired people living in poor countries wear hearing aids. And that’s where Solar Ear’s founder, Howard Weinstein, has made a world of difference.
While working in the Peace Corps 15 years ago, Weinstein, a former plumber from Montreal, was assigned to a solar power hearing aid project in Bostwana, which had become known as Godisa Technologies.
With no products, staff or funding, he managed to raise enough money and found technological expertise to develop a solar-powered hearing aid costing $100 – a fifth of the price of standard models. The “Solar Ear” device comes with $1 rechargeable batteries that last up to three years. An accompanying charger can either get power from the sun or a wall outlet.
Weinstein, now operating out of Brazil, hopes to take Solar Aid to Jordan, allowing him to reach the entire Middle East.
Content provided by Hearing Review

“I am just as deaf as I am blind. The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex than those of blindness. Blindness separates me from objects. Deafness separates me from people.” – Helen Keller.