ideas4ears: MED-EL launches global Children´s Invention Contest

November 9, 2018 — (Innsbruck, Austria) — Cochlear implant manufacturer MED-EL is inviting children aged 6-12 years from all over the world to show their creativity in a contest. In the ideas4ears contest the youngest generation of inventors is asked to come up with inventions for people with hearing loss that improve their quality of life. Countries from all over the world are participating  in the contest which aims at raising public awareness for hearing loss.



The contest will be launched on World Inventors Day, November 9th, 2018. It wants to challenge kids with their creative skills: a new invention, an improvement to something that already exists or a clever idea that helps people with hearing loss and makes their lives easier.

The children are asked to showcase their invention through various media, such as artwork, drawings, videos, sculptures or similar. Entries must be submitted via ideas4ears.org by January 17th, 2019.
Besides celebrating the talented 6-12 years old inventors and their unique creativity, the ideas4ears contest wants to increase an understanding for the challenges that people with hearing loss face on a daily basis. Furthermore, the contest provides an opportunity to learn about the benefits of treating hearing loss.

Powerful ideas – solutions for the future

Innovation is a fundamental part of the MED-EL story, which is based on a powerful idea that has influenced the lives of many people with hearing loss worldwide. The winners are going to be selected by the MED-EL ideas4ears jury. “Children often have a completely different approach to things, bringing entirely new aspects to an idea”, says Geoffrey Ball, Chief Technical Officer at MED-EL and inventor of the VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE.

Winners will be announced on January 31^st, 2019 and will be rewarded with a trip to MED-EL headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria. There they will tour the facilities and also meet with MED-EL’s inventors.

About hearing loss

Over 5% of the world’s population – 466 million people – are living with disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). Approximately one third of people over the age of 65 are affected by disabling hearing loss. The World Health Organization recommends a range of solutions to improve communication, including hearing implants.

About MED-EL

MED-EL Medical Electronics, a leader in implantable hearing solutions, is driven by a mission to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication. The Austrian-based, privately owned business was co-founded by industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, whose ground-breaking research led to the development of the world’s first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant (CI), which was successfully implanted in 1977 and was the basis for what is known as the modern CI today. This laid the foundation for the successful growth of the company in 1990, when they hired their first employees. To date, MED-EL has grown to more than 1,900 employees and 30 subsidiaries worldwide.

The company offers the widest range of implantable and non-implantable solutions to treat all types of hearing loss, enabling people in 123 countries enjoy the gift of hearing with the help of a MED-EL device. MED-EL’s hearing solutions include cochlear and middle ear implant systems, a combined Electric Acoustic Stimulation hearing implant system, auditory brainstem implants as well as surgical and non-surgical bone conduction devices. www.medel.com  

CEO

Doz. DI Dr DDr med. h.c. Ingeborg Hochmair

Press contact

Lisa Azwanger-Geser 
MED-EL Medical Electronics 
Fürstenweg 77a 
6020 Innsbruck 
Austria 

T: +43 5 7788-1029 
E: Lisa.Azwanger-Geser@medel.com 
www.medel.com