Breakthroughs

Despite the possibility of Heat Utilizing Hearing Aids, there is still work required to make them a reality. There are certain discoveries that have not yet been made. For the longest time, scientists didn’t know how to access the heat from the human body as a source of power, but technological advances have made this a reality—albeit one that is relatively premature in the works.

Heat is a measure of energy, or more specifically, kinetic energy, which is, at its base, energy, and it comes as no surprise that it follows the inherent laws that govern its existence: energy cannot be created or destroyed, on transferred. Though scientists have developed thermoelectric generators, which are capable of capturing excess body heat and converting it to an electrical charge, it is weak, and needs a reliable method of amplification. While the human body puts out plenty of energy, current scientific methods lack the ability to actually employ a major fraction of this, and it will be necessary to delve further into this subject before products relying on this system can be fully realized.

The human body generates its own heat, but there have also been no long term studies as to what effect drawing heat away would have on the it. More research and lab study needs to be done on this topic.

What about the cost?

One of the most important aspects in the attainment of this product will be finding a way to bring the price down. Hearing aids are already expensive, and implementing thermoelectric technology will only serve to raise that number. The addition of this technology will help negate the cost of batteries, as they will not require replacement with any regularity, but the initial cost may not be ideal. In order to change this, the mass production of thermoelectric generators needs to be looked into. If such a feat can be accomplished, it is then quite possible that existing behind-the-ear hearing aid models could be modified to support the new charging system. This would cut costs dramatically, if old devices could be revamped without the assembly of an entirely new product.

Steps needed to making Heat Utilizing Hearing Aids a possibility:

• Further develop thermoelectric generators

 

• Study the effects of thermoelectric generators on the human body

 

• Reduce cost of thermoelectric generators