This design looks at the problems associated with hearing-aid design from the opposite perspective. Rather than looking at ways to redesign the hearing aid for the listener, it proposes an audio transmitter to be worn by the listener. Sharewear(c) is in fact a talking aid. It increases the audibility of a person in a short-distance, face-to-face conversation. Sharewear(c) was initially developed by me in response to an RNID brief, entitled HearWear, to design an innovative project to radically rethink the future of hearing that invited designs and prototypes by some of the UK's leading designers.

For every person using a hearing aid there are many who talk to them: their partners, colleagues, service providers, etc. HearWear questioned the approach to the problem of deafness by looking for a way to share the responsibility of wearing the hearing aids based on the opportunities presented by 'inclusive' thinking. Could hearing aids demonstrate joint responsibility of the speaker and listener? Could hearing aids be part of existing audio systems? Could hearing aids become conversation aids used by a larger community?

Rather than a technology or stylistically driven process to redesign the known, this project takes a user-centric view to rethink the product typology altogether. The technological feasibility was explored and a demonstration model was built in collaboration with a mechatronics engineer. This design attempts to put technological aesthetics at the service of direct and friendly communication. Hearing aids are traditionally perceived as the problem of the person with the hearing restrictions. This concept suggests a new social perspective accepting that both speaker and listener have a shared interest and responsibility towards improved audibility. The design was exhibited as part of the HearWear exhibition held at the Contemporary Galleries at the V&A in London between 5 March and 26 July 2006.