“Total Access” Product Promotion: Irked spotlights the SolarAid
Written by admin2 on October 29th, 2009Filed under: Themes, Deaf Jam, Campaign Watch
SolarAid:
A solar-powered hearing aid that costs less than $100.
By comparison:
The least expensive retail model sells for about $500.
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Fourteen years ago, after [Howard] Weinstein’s daughter passed away, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to a solar-powered hearing aid project in Botswana, which today is known as Godisa Technologies. With no products, staff or funding, Weinstein eventually raised enough cash and found technological expertise to develop an analog 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 hopes that this simple yet effective concept will change the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Currently, Weinstein, a former plumber from Montreal, is working on bringing a digital version of the solar-powered hearing aid to Brazil. Botswanans who worked on the original project have come to Brazil to teach locals how to make the hearing aids, which will be sold throughout Latin America for $125. To date, Weinstein has sold 10,000 rechargeable hearing aids, 20,000 solar chargers, and over 40,000 rechargeable hearing aid batteries to 31 countries—a big success considering that he started out with nothing.
In fact, the Solar Aid concept recently won Weinstein the Tech Award Laureate title, an international program that honors innovators who are applying technology to benefit humanity. In 2008, he was awarded the Humanitarian Award from the American Academy of Audiology.
“The key to our success is that our workers are deaf,” Weinstein tells Healthy Hearing … Continue reading this article
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