Really good design must go deeper than appearance. But appearance should not be undervalued, especially when appearances can be leveraged to impact change.

If you choose to wear something – anything – then you should really wear it, and its design should reflect this choice. Current hearing aid design is in a kind of wearing/not wearing purgatory. The majority of designs are flesh-coloured. A flesh-coloured hearing aid says to the wearer that this device is embarrassing, so I’m attempting to camouflage against your skin.

Well-designed eyewear is desirable even by those with perfect vision. So why can’t we go beyond that to take advantage of the technological advantages hearing aids can give us (even, and perhaps especially, those with average hearing)? This is even more relevant as we live our lives closer to technology, and in light of the fact that one in seven people suffer from a degree of hearing loss, and the RNID predicts that this will rise as noise pollution increases and people live longer.

The Hearwear show at the V&A in 2006 showcased a variety of stylish hearing aid designs, which I think is a timely and exciting stimulus for designers. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go.

Hearing-wear should be as mass-market as eyewear, mobile phones, and iPods (and ones you can sync with the technology you use, like the Oticon Epoq can, to the ecstasy of Wired journalist Charlie Sorrel). I think it’s just a matter of time before it is.