Jenni Ahtiainen - Making Hearing Aids Fashionable and Unique

ListenUp!

Jenni Ahtiainen is a successful Finnish designer working in the fashion, beauty, and hearing aid industries. Her designs are sold internationally and she’s designed stage costumes for musicians like Marilyn Manson, Snoop Dogg, and Bono. She started her own brand, Deafmetal, which sells fashion-forward jewelry created and designed for hearing aid and cochlear implant users.

In this episode…

Hearing aids and cochlear implants have historically held a stigma. One of the greatest contributors to this hesitancy is the appearance of the technology. The cold, medical appearance has a social impact that many go to great lengths to avoid. While every part of our appearance is up to us, hearing aids have primarily stayed unappealing and inexpressive. Jenni Ahtiainen is a prominent fashion designer who has lived with hearing loss for much of her life. She saw a hole in the industry at the cross-section of fashion and hearing aids. As a result, she started Deafmetal, a jewelry brand for hearing aids and cochlear implants. In this episode of the ListenUp! Podcast, Dr. Mark Syms talks with Jenni Ahtiainen, the designer and Founder at AIDesign, to discuss her vision and process for the Deafmetal brand. She breaks down her own journey with hearing loss, how she started the brand, and how they have continued to scale and grow. The two also talk about the designs behind the brand and where it is heading in the future.