Brian Mukeswe, a 3rd-year electrical engineering student at the University of British Columbia, is one of 10 finalists in the Sunnybrook Research Prize Competition. Brian will present his undergraduate research project, Utilizing body heat to sustainably power assistive hearing devices, in Toronto on January 8th. The winner of the prize will receive $10,000. Good luck on Friday Brian!
Brian’s goal is to make assistive hearing technology more sustainable for people in low-income communities. Brian interviewed patients, audiology practitioners and technical experts in Canada, Uganda and South Africa to understand what patients need. The initial cost of hearing aids and the recurring cost of buying batteries were the greatest challenges for patients using assistive hearing technologies. Although solutions such as solar batteries for hearing aids have been introduced, solar batteries are only compatible with 50% of common hearing aids.
Brian would like to use the heat energy continuously generated by the human body to solve the problem. This heat can be converted into electrical energy and power a hearing aid to reduce and eventually, with further research and development, eliminating the need to recharge or replace batteries. The device uses the temperature gradient between the human skin and the ambient room temperature to generate thermal electric power. Ultimately, Brian would like to develop a sustainable technique for refurbishing used hearing aids and fitting them with a thermoelectric generator module.
Brian was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and is enrolled as a MasterCard Foundation scholar at UBC in his third year, studying Electrical Engineering with a Commerce minor. He is the president of the Africa Awareness Initiative, a student-run organization that promotes respectful and critical dialogue about Africa on campus, and a Community Animator, facilitating dialogue and collaboration among globally minded students at the Simon K Y Lee Global Lounge.
The Sunnybrook Research Prize competition is open to undergraduates in the physical sciences and engineering disciplines who are in their third or fourth year of study at a Canadian university and have an interest in biomedical research.