An eight-year-old girl from Cowaramup has returned from Austria after winning a global invention contest with a device designed to help people with hearing loss stay alert while sleeping.
Global winner
Asha Daisy Hodgson was named one of just 10 winners worldwide in the annual IDEASforEARS Children’s Invention Contest, hosted by hearing implant technology company MED-EL. Her winning idea was a smart sleeping mask connected to a monitor that vibrates when it detects important sounds, such as alarms or a baby crying.
Asha’s inspiration came from her mother, Genevieve Hodgson, who has hearing loss and uses a cochlear implant. “I really enjoyed the winners’ ceremony and had so much fun meeting people from all over the world,” Asha said.
Trip to Austria
Asha travelled to Innsbruck, Austria, home to MED-EL’s global headquarters, for a special international winners’ event. There, she met engineers, hearing experts, and MED-EL co-founder and CEO Dr Ingeborg Hochmair, and shared ideas with fellow young inventors from around the world.
Genevieve Hodgson said the experience exceeded the family’s expectations. “Before the trip, Asha knew she’d won but she didn’t fully understand just how big it was,” she said. “Meeting the other children, visiting MED-EL and seeing people from all over the world come together because of hearing technology made the experience incredibly special for our whole family.”
Impact and awareness
MED-EL Australia marketing and communications manager Clare Tamas praised Asha’s achievement. “What makes Asha’s achievement so special is that her idea came from living alongside hearing loss in her own family,” she said. “Her invention highlights some of the practical challenges people with hearing loss can face every day while also demonstrating the creativity and problem-solving skills young people can bring to those challenges.”
Tamas added that the story encourages greater awareness of hearing loss and the technologies that help people stay connected to the world. The contest, which invites children to develop inventions to improve the lives of people with hearing loss, received entries from across the globe.
