Games-Based Hearoes App Sounds Good

Photo credit: Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Audiologists at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) have helped in the development of an Australian-first app that guides hearing impaired people through the new environment of sound, following a hearing implant.

As RBWH Audiology Team Leader Carla Rose explains in this article, switching on a cochlear implant is just the first step in a long journey. She notes that a hearing implant does not replicate natural sound. It’s a new experience for every patient regardless of the circumstances behind their hearing impairment or previous hearing level.

Brisbane-based app creator Elliot Miller received a cochlear implant in December 2013 after a lifetime of deafness but found there were few tools to help him learn at his own pace. He started developing what would become Hearoes after hearing a strange noise while jogging, which turned out to be coins jangling in his pocket. The Brisbane-based designer’s early prototype won the 2018 eHealth Hackathon.

Miller was supported by eHealth and he has involved fellow cochlear recipients and doctors, RBWH audiologists, speech therapists and teachers to progress the app through to a fully-funded, 90-day proof of concept in readiness for pilot testing.