Meet Michael

My name is Michael Burke, and I am a designer from Castlemaine, Co, Kerry. I grew up in a farming environment, where creating and repairing machinery is a common practice. I developed my love for design through creating product solutions in this space. DCG in secondary school helped me realise I wanted to create and innovate. I have passion for medical design, and design for minorities. Throughout my four years in UL, studying Product Design & Technology, I learned that I want to design for those with disabilities and help those in the minority to ensure that they are included in everyday interactions. I look forward to developing more skills and experience as I move into professional design practice.

If you want to get in touch with Michael you can view his LinkedIn profile or email him. 

Visual Ear

Visual Ear is a smart communications wearable for both hearing-impaired and hearing construction workers. The objective of Visual Ear is to integrate hearing-impaired workers seamlessly into the on-site communication and safety channels and to overcome the impact of loud background noise. This is achieved by creating a smart wearable that vibrates for tactile communication with the user, combined with an inbuilt screen allowing them to send and receive short messages. Visual Ear allows the users to interact in a quick manner. The two app interfaces allow the user to seek emergency help urgently without the need to call or speak to an operator. It also allows the user to keep up to date with key information as is it needed throughout the day and allows co-workers to seek help through Visual Ear.