RNID, UK’s charity for deaf people and design magazine Blueprint are launching an exhibition of futuristic hearing aids to make them more popular.

The show, called Hearwear, opens in London this week.

The concept products on display include Goldfish, based on the idea that goldfish only have 10 seconds of memory. The device instantly replays the previous 10 seconds of sound to the wearer in case they have failed to catch someone’s name. Also shown:
– a device to enable people to have a clear conversation in a noisy bar or zoom when listening for something in the distance,
– another that protects the user’s ears in noisy environments while allowing certain sounds to get through: a mobile phone, laptop or MP3 player,
– eyeglasses that incorporates hearing technology into the arms. The wearer will only hear sounds from their direction of view,
– and hearing aids designed as jewellery or must-have gadgets.

At at the Victoria & Albert Museum, until March 5, 2006.
RNID image library. BBC pictures.

Via textually BBC News.