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#TechTalkThursday Week 5 of 20 | AT Village Spotlight Deaftronics: Harnessing Solar Power to Restore Hearing Across AfricaThe Challenge:Across Africa and the developing world, 70% of hearing aids distributed are only used for a month Hearing Health & Technology Matters not because people don't need them, but because the batteries are too expensive and too hard to find. There are 525 million people with hearing loss, and 70% of them live in developing countries. For a child in rural Botswana, a flat battery doesn't just mean silence, it means missing school, missing opportunity, and missing out on life.The Solution:Tendekayi Katsiga is the Director of Deaftronics Botswana, a company that produces high-quality, low-cost solar-powered hearing aids made by people who are deaf, for people with hearing loss. The Solar Ear kit,a hearing aid, solar charger, and four rechargeable batteries — starts at $100, compared to traditional hearing aids that start at $1,000 without batteries. Becauseinternational The batteries charge via sunlight, fluorescent light, or USB, last up to three years, and are compatible with 80% of hearing aids on the market. Deaftronics has served over 30,000 users with hearing impairment in over 40 countries. But Tendekayi didn't stop at the device. Deaftronics also built mDREET, a mobile app for affordable community hearing assessments and pioneered sign language dictionaries for banking and HIV/AIDS awareness, because access to sound is only the beginning of access to life.Meet the Innovator:Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tendekayi was inspired by a chance encounter with a 15-year-old boy at a mall whose hearing aid had stopped working not from any fault of the device, but simply because he couldn't afford the batteries. That moment sparked a mission. In his career, Tendekayi has worked across Zimbabwe, Canada, Brazil, Jordan, and Botswana, and has facilitated partnerships with Solar Ear, Johnson & Johnson, and UNICEF. He is a recipient of the Johnson & Johnson Champions of Science Africa Innovation Award, the Builders of Africa's Future Award, the South African Designers Awards, and the Digital Accessibility & Assistive Technology Award, and has been featured in Newsweek, National Geographic, BBC, and WIRED. Deaftronics doesn't just restore hearing , it restores dignity, economic participation, and belonging. Watch his innovation pitch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAi_cWOizw&list=PLbQ8Sk4HYplIEzdzl4zIhqKLagxDxu0hH&index=8Website- deaftronics.comRegister for the 7th Inclusive Africa Conference: lnkd.in/djVAjfuh ... See MoreSee Less

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