THE PROJECT: 

Cheyenne's current hearing aid - with pink, sparkly ear-mold

Cheyenne* is a youth with bi-lateral hearing loss.  She wears hearing aids in both ears and can hear close to nothing when they are removed.  She is extremely active but faces some issues with player-coach communication while on the field or court.  Our goal is to design a solution for her through researching the problem space, prototyping a range of design solutions, and ultimately creating a mock-up or working product for Cheyenne.  This site acts as a living portfolio to follow the design process as we move forward.     

"My name is Cheyenne.  I wear behind the ear hearing aids.  I love to play sports and try as many things as I can.  I play golf, soccer, basketball, and tennis.  I also love ice skating, swimming, diving and gymnastics!  I have even tried curling!!!!  One of the problems I have come across with my hearing loss and sports is the need for coaches to communicate with me while I am on the field or court.  I am running and they are yelling and my hearing aids are amplifying everything around me from crowd noise, wind, other kids, whistles from other games going on and many other noises.  I can't always pick out what the coach is saying and this is frustrating for the coach and for me.  Sometimes I don't know what I am supposed to be doing.  I need to have a way for them to communicate with me over the space of the court or field.  I hope you can create something for me!" 

-Cheyenne, introducing herself and
 her problem in her own words

This is a project for Communication 398: Assistive Design. 

*All names have been changed.