At EarSwitch, our vision may be to reimagine the future of healthcare, but we know that it’ll take more than one company and one idea. That’s why at CES 2024 – one of the largest tech events in the world – it was amazing to see that collaboration was a key theme.
With the support of LaVonne Roberts and Andrew Morgan, I represented EarSwitch at CES as a collaborator of the Scott-Morgan Foundation, for which I’m proud to be a patron. EarSwitch was part of the Foundation’s incredible presentation at CES, which was the first time that multiple, combined assistive technologies have been brought together in such a way.
Here’s a look at some of the innovators that EarSwitch featured alongside at the event, and some of the inspiring people and businesses I connected with.
Attending CES with the Scott-Morgan Foundation
At ShowStoppers, an event on the first night of CES 2024, the Scott-Morgan Foundation presented a range of assistive technologies. Incredibly, our in-ear control technology was part of this, giving us an opportunity to show how it could be integrated into and used alongside other assistive devices.
A personal highlight was meeting Erin Taylor, who was diagnosed with MND/ALS at age 23. Erin, working with Lenovo, DeepBrain AI, and the Scott-Morgan Foundation has been able to create text-to-avatar technology that promises to help people express their personality and emotions through communication into late-stage MND.
This was showcased at ShowStoppers by the Scott-Morgan Foundation, alongside eye gaze tracking technology from IRISBOND, smart wheelchair technology from LUCI Mobility, and a tongue-operated touchpad from Augmental (who also won the CTA Foundation pitch).
By bringing this group of innovators together, the Scott-Morgan Foundation – with Erin’s guidance – is offering a future opportunity for greater mobility and freedom for people with MND and other conditions. They’ve also demonstrated the life-changing potential of combining assistive technology to support complex health needs.
You can learn more about this technology in this press release.
Combining EarSwitch with assistive, healthcare and consumer technologies
EarSwitch has an exciting role to play in this future of combined assistive tech.
I hope and expect that our in-ear biometric control and sensor technologies, EarControl™ and EarMetrics®, will be used alongside other devices in the future. There's a real opportunity for us to partner with other innovators to do so, and to hopefully achieve an even greater impact.
Eye tracking is a great example of how we might do this. For instance, although eye tracking can become tiring over time, EarSwitch could provide additional, in-ear control to create a more comfortable experience.
If you’d like to discuss a partnership with EarSwitch, I’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch with us here.
CES: a platform for collaboration
Although all of the assistive technologies revealed at CES were incredible, it was the sense of togetherness fuelling the event that inspired me most.
On that note, I’d like to give a special mention to:
Breean Cox at Ximira, which is creating an AI-led wearable that helps people who are blind to walk safely.
Cephable, which provides multi-input control technology that can be adapted to users’ unique needs.
Neurolutions with IpsiHand™, which uses EEG activity to help people regain lost arm functionality after stroke.
Sonical, which is creating smart headphones with apps for ears. The team also demonstrated our dinosaur jumping game at CES last year!
Voler Systems, a product design company specialising in medical, wearable, and IoT devices.
I’d also like to say a huge thank you to the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for funding the pivotal EarSwitch work that has allowed us to progress to a stage of development where this trip to CES was possible. Of course, I’d also like to thank everyone at the Scott-Morgan Foundation.
If you’d like to learn more about my time at CES, upcoming projects, and our vision for a more inclusive and accessible future in healthcare, you can keep up with me and EarSwitch on LinkedIn.
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