20 October 2007

Solar-powered hearing aids? It's possible!


Do you find yourself often wondering where to recycle hearing aid batteries or complaining about how difficult it is to find eco-friendly or recycleable kinds? Do you ever wish that your hearing aid batteries weren't so much hassle- searching endlessly for 675 zinc or size 13 batteries in pharmacy stores?
Worry no more! Solar-powered hearing aids and batteries have been invented by Godisa... it all started in Africa, more specifically Botswana. SolarAid workshops initiated in 1992 with the mission of creating a hearing aid for deaf people in developing countries to use, that is powered by the free energy of the sun!
Here is the excerpt from Josh Swiller's website (he's the one who told me about this):
"Godisa has developed a cheap hearing aid made specifically for hot and humid conditions that runs on solar charged batteries. Most notably, they are doing everything possible to enable anyone who needs their hearing aid to get it free. They have declined to pursue a patent, have offered their technological expertise to anyone who’s interested and are relying on donations to cover the cost (about $100) of each aid. Also noteworthy – most of Godisa’s technicians, salespersons and other employees are deaf themselves. Truly an amazing undertaking that deserves more attention and support. You can read more about it here and here." -www.joshswiller.com/getinvolved.html
The good news is, there's a Godisa distributor here in the USA- check out their website:
www.godisausa.org.
Happy solar listening!
--Summer
Posted by at 9:55 AM
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16 comments:

  1. I dug into this and found the battery recharger and rechargeable batteries are available, but the SolarAid isn't - yet. Apparently it's been in development since 1992 but has not yet gone into production. I couldn't find any explanation why - perhaps they're still working out the patent issue with the Botswana government. I contacted Godisa for more info.

    It's a very cool idea - I hope they're able to go into production on the SolarAid soon.
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  2. Only IN America lol.... if you live in the UK you wouldn't see enough sunshine to charge the things !
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  3. I am trying to figure out how to recharge the hearing aids if I was using them during my waking hours of the day. Maybe this would work for me if I had 4 hearing aids and rotate pairs each day.
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  4. As I said earlier, I contacted Godisa for more info, and they replied today with two spreadsheets providing prices and specifications. You can check them out here:

    SolarAid Price List
    www.deafscribe.com/lj/SolarAid_Price_List.pdf

    Godisa Series 100 Specs
    http://www.deafscribe.com/lj/Godisa_100_Series_Specs.pdf
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  5. This is great, I would be happy to donate money to the company to further their goals. I live in southern California, where it's hot and sunny, so I don't think I'd have a problem charging up the hearing aid batteries, since I'm hearing impaired myself. Been wearing hearing aids since age 2. We should do what we can to help Godisa more. Someone should set up a donate button for Godisa.
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  6. I find your blog rather interesting and useful. Hearing aids is still a way out for those who have hearing problems. However, certain people are deprived of a chance to hear the sounds even with the help of hearing aids. I have learned from www.pissedconsumer.com that they are very different and diverse depending on the level of the deafness. There are numerous hearing aids manufacturers in the world which present their products on the US market.
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  7. Excellent blog about Solar-powered hearing aids? It's possible!!! I love all the articles you have, you have done an excellent job with the information on them.!!!
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  8. Then this is something that hopefully will be done. It can really help a lot.
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  9. This can really help. Batteries can be an additional expense to the owner.
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  10. Hearing aids depends on their batteries. I think batteries are an additional expense in the user's part. This is a big help!
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  11. Solar energy is the best natural resource that we have this time even more that fuel is too expensive. In fact i want to approach costa rica investment opportunities and look all the alternative this country can have because it climate.
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  12. Solar energy can really help us with this. It is free and we can use it anytime and anywhere.
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  13. I need some more information about the
    hearing amplifier and that kind of stuff please help me?!?
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  14. I think this is possible. My unitron hearing aids are comfortable and allow me to experience sounds that I haven’t heard in years.
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  15. I would like to find out of the godisa solar battery chargers are currently available in the US. I am going to go hiking/camping for an extended trip in the mountains of New Mexico, and I cannot bring my cochlear implant rechargeable batteries, and I would rather use my Solar Aid 675 rechargeable batteries than carry around a lot of disposable batteries.

    John
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  16. The cost of regular batteries is so high. This is big help. It seems that I am constantly buying new batteries or my elderly Dad. Is this available in Canada?

    Thanks.
    Dana
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