Design and Prototyping for Disability. E2E (EAR-TO-EYE) Case Study

The present paper introduces the methodology applied for the development of “E2E (Ear-to-eye)”, a lighting assistive open-source product for deaf people. The project was developed during the “Intelligent Products” Design Studio, of the Product Design Master Course at the Iuav University of Venice (Romero, Ferrari and Toso, 2018). The hypoacusis is a disease caused by damages in the internal ear that reduces the hearing ability. The hearing aid and the cochlear implant are the main solutions to the hypoacusis (Nidcd, 2019), although they are removed or switched off in some specific situations which take place at home (such as stu- dying, sleeping and relaxing) causing an uncomfortable feeling of total isolation. After a desk research, we interviewed four deaf people and we identify as critical three situations that take place at home when the hearing aid is removed: • someone rings the bell at the front door; • the alarm clock sounds in the morning; • someone from a different room is calling. The purpose of the project is to involve the deaf person into events happe- ning in the domestic environment when she/he might not wear the hearing aid in order to reduce the sense of uncertainty and isolation. To address this issue, we have designed E2E, a system of two or more devices positioned in different ro- oms and connected each other through radio frequencies. The devices are pro- vided with three different LED lights: two of them activate when the microphone recognizes the sound of a bell/alarm and the acoustic signal is converted into a light feedback; the third one is used to communicate with a person in a different room. The interaction takes place through two different buttons, one to send a call signal and the other one to send an answering signal.