Student with hearing loss creates toy to prepare children for audiology tests
By Chris Birkle | Published on 21 May 2025
Categories: Press office; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment;
A toy robot that enables young children to prepare for ‘intimidating’ hearing tests has been designed by a Nottingham Trent University (NTU) student to help them overcome first-time nerves.
Ella Wood, 22, who has hearing loss, was inspired to create ‘Oto’ following her own personal experiences, so that young children can become used to clinical hearing tests before taking their first one.
“Going into a hospital for the first time to have a hearing test can be a scary and intimidating thing for a young child,” said Ella, from Woodthorpe in Chesterfield.
“For many it’s the fear of the unknown of facing technical equipment they’re not used to, so I wanted to reduce that anxiety and make it a more enjoyable experience for them.”
“A lot of audiology tests remove any play aspect for children from the age of six, but from my point of view that’s too young and my research shows many children would benefit from something to support them.”
Ella’s design involves children placing one of ten cards in the back of the robot which enables it to play a sound that corresponds to the image on the front of the card.
Each card has a near-field communication (NFC) chip inside which is detected by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader in the robot that plays the corresponding sound through a speaker.
The sounds played are at different frequencies and volumes to allow for a non-clinical practice test across the hearing spectrum.
Noises include a dog barking, birds chirping, a dripping tap, a baby crying, a phone ringing, an aeroplane taking off, a lawn mower, rustling leaves, a clock ticking and a vacuum.
Birds chirping tests for a high frequency, while a plane taking off is for a low frequency. A dripping tap and rustling leaves test for quiet sounds, while a lawn mower tests for a higher volume.
Ella's prototype Oto
When the child hears the sound they press an image on a digital screen on the robot which corresponds to that sound. That image then becomes coloured to signify that they can hear a noise at that volume and frequency.
Oto is partnered with a booklet which shows the same audiogram as on the screen, and children can colour in the icons if they hear the sound.
The screen features blue and the red lines, as similar to a graph on an audiogram, to get children used to the experience of seeing them at the hospital.
The product does not aim to fully diagnose a child, but gets them used to the testing process.
It would be made available for doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies and schools to buy, and parents could ‘rent’ it to allow them to complete practice tests before attending their audiology appointment.
The exterior design is rounded and made from recycled plastic and the head is made from a soft silicon to make it feel squishy and inviting.
It aims to be adaptable, so as children grow older, they can personalise it and keep it until the age of 11, such as by adding accessories like clothes or having the choice of different colour options for both Oto and its accompanying booklet.
Ella undertook research through surveys with 30 parents which showed that 70 per cent of children felt nervous ahead of appointments such as at the doctors or opticians.
Ella’s design is set to go on public exhibition from 31 May for the 2025 NTU Student Showcase, one of the country’s largest displays of graduating art and design talent.
Emily Brook, course leader for the BA Product Design at NTU, said: “Ella has taken her lived experience of hearing tests and designed something which fills a gap for young people who are about to go through the same.
“Her project shows how design can help support young children with hearing loss and help them overcome potential anxieties that they may face which other children won’t.”
Notes for Editors
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Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has been named UK ‘University of the Year’ five times in six years, (Times Higher Education Awards 2017, The Guardian University Awards 2019, The Times and Sunday Times 2018 and 2023, Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023) and is consistently one of the top performing modern universities in the UK.
It is the 3rd best modern university in the UK (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023). Students have voted NTU 1st in the UK for student employability (Uni Compare 2025)
NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with over 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across six campuses. It has an international student population of almost 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
NTU owns two Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for outstanding achievements in research (2015, 2021). The first recognises NTU’s research on the safety and security of global citizens. The second was awarded for research in science, engineering, arts and humanities to investigate and restore cultural objects, buildings and heritage. The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded GOLD in the national 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment, as it was in 2019.
NTU is a top 10 for sport (British Universities and Colleges Sport league table 2023).
NTU is the most environmentally sustainable university in the UK and second in the world (UI Green Metric University World Rankings, 2023).