Hearing care professionals fit hearing aids for their customers. Some hearing aids are worn directly in, or very close to, the environment of the outer ear canal, where they are exposed to the cerumen (earwax) that is usually present there.
To prevent hearing aids – and their receivers in particular – from becoming contaminated with cerumen and at risk of being destroyed, they are protected with manufacturer-specific plastic wax guards.
The purpose of these wax guards is to stop the cerumen and keep it away from the receiver. When a wax guard is blocked, it is replaced using a tool, for example a small stick with a new wax guard on one end and a removal tip on the other. These sticks are supplied in transport packaging, for example in sets of eight, and are easy for the end user – the hearing aid wearer – to use. Wearers can therefore replace their blocked wax guards themselves. The sticks and the outer packaging are made of plastic and have no further use; they are thrown away. Hearing aid wearers visit their hearing care professionals at regular intervals to have their hearing aids checked and cleaned. Some professionals provide this service free of charge. The wax guards are also replaced where necessary.
One unit of wax guards, i.e. one outer pack, 8 sticks and 8 wax guards, weighs 5.2 g in total. That is about 0.002 g of wax guards and 5.198 g of waste.
That is 99.97 % waste to 0.03 % benefit.
A small hearing care practice (two booths) uses about 200 wax guards per month. That is 2,400 wax guards per year, or 1,560 g of plastic: 3.28 g of wax guards and 1,556.72 g of waste. With 7,200 practices in Germany, that adds up to 22,960 g of wax guards and 10,897,040 g – roughly 10.8 tonnes – of waste per year.
With this disposable system, professionals accumulate a large amount of plastic that is paid for and disposed of without any added value.
So far there has been no sustainable solution for hearing care professionals.
A comparison from the motor trade: when the engine oil of a car is changed in a workshop, 5-litre canisters are not used – 300-litre drums are, which is more cost-effective and better for the environment.
CerumClear is a concept in the same spirit: it supplies professionals with a range of wax guards. The wax guards come as bulk goods in a sustainable box. Hearing care professionals find the right wax guard for the receivers of all hearing aid manufacturers. CerumClear consists of 5 wax guard sizes, some of which fit the most common receivers and sleeves universally. The box has 5 compartments with a clever sliding guide that brings each wax guard into a pick-up position, so that it can be picked up with the mounting tool and fitted in its final position in a hearing aid. Wax guards can be reordered from us as bulk goods. Inside the box, on the underside of the lid, practical and sustainable mounting and removal tools are attached for each wax guard size. The box and the tools are not thrown away; they can be used for many years. The replica wax guards are designed so that they can still be removed with the original removal tips used by end users. For the end user – the hearing aid wearer – nothing changes.
Two entrepreneurs meet at a business networking event
The two entrepreneurs brainstorm ideas for products that could be made for hearing care
Constanton GmbH is founded in the office of a hearing care practice to carry out future projects
The CerumClear concept moves into focus
Visit to the 66th EUHA Congress in Hanover to gauge opinions on the cost-benefit ratio of the wax guard replacement concepts used so far, and on CerumClear
Patent and trademark rights are reviewed and drafted
Toolmakers and injection moulders draw up a schedule
Registration as an exhibitor with CerumClear at the 67th EUHA Congress
After several prototype boxes and tools, we go into production
Talks about new, larger premises take place
Unexpected challenges with suppliers for the smallest components set the wax guards back by about 4 months. But it has a silver lining: it leads to a solution that helps us achieve “Made in Germany”
Trade fair preparations are in full swing
We are exhibiting at the 67th EUHA Congress in Nuremberg
The feedback at the EUHA Congress was simply overwhelming. Your suggestions for improvement will be taken into account in further development.
The changes made in response to your feedback are sampled and evaluated. Further modifications are made and implemented.
Technical changes also require the patents to be adjusted.
Sales of CerumClear have started.
Purchase of our own injection moulding machine for production.
Setting up our own production site in Aurich.
Commissioning of our own production in Aurich.
We develop concepts that promote sustainability through forward-looking technology and make life easier for hearing care professionals who run a practice, cost-effectively.
