Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking
Enabling Voices through Sustainability
Enabling the potential of people with voice disorders through sustainable innovations
This concept aims to mix sustainability with innovation in order to help people with voice disorders reach their potential and offer innovative rehabilitation methods. The final product from this concept idea with a sustainable approach is suited for mental health professionals and multi-disciplinary professionals who work with people with disabilities during the rehabilitation process. It also aims to be customer-friendly so it could be easy to use without prior professional training.
Kosovo
Local
Pristina
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Early concept
No
No
As a representative of an organisation, in partnership with other organisations
To develop a sustainable, affordable, and accessible breath training device using a simple circular economy approach, benefiting individuals requiring speech therapy, respiratory rehabilitation, and professional voice training. Target Users may include Speech therapy & respiratory patients (post-COVID recovery, asthma, chronic lung issues), Singers, actors, teachers, and professional speakers, Athletes seeking improved breath control, Underprivileged communities with limited access to expensive therapy tools. Millions of people suffer from speech disorders, lung conditions, and voice strain. Therapy tools exist, but most are expensive, inaccessible, and not environmentally sustainable. Existing devices cost €50-€200, making them unaffordable for low-income groups, Therapists lack simple, widely available alternatives for rehabilitation exercises, current plastic-based medical devices contribute to waste, without a circular life-cycle approach. We introduce a low-cost, eco-friendly, and easy-to-use vocal therapy device that helps individuals train their respiratory muscles and improve vocal function while being aligned with the principles of circular economy and sustainability. The proposed solution is a sustainable product design with key features such as ,Eco-Friendly Materials, Adjustable Resistance, Compact & Portable. The device works as the users inhales & exhales through a semi-rigid silicone tube, controlling airflow resistance via water depth. The product includes a secure rubber grommet ensures a tight seal, preventing air leaks and a soft, ergonomic mouthpiece enhances comfort and usability.
Sustainability
Inclusion
Accesibility
Aesthetic
Design
This project integrates sustainability, affordability, and accessibility to create an eco-friendly breath training device that supports individuals requiring speech therapy, respiratory rehabilitation, and professional voice training. By using recycled and biodegradable materials, the device reduces environmental impact while ensuring affordability and ease of use for a wide range of users. This project is a pioneering initiative in sustainable healthcare solutions, addressing both environmental and social challenges by implementing a circular economy approach. The key sustainability objectives and how they are met include: Use of Sustainable Materials, Circular Economy Integration, Eco-Friendly Production, Low-Carbon Footprint, Scalability & Impact. This approach makes the project an exemplary model of how circular economy principles can be applied to medical devices, reducing plastic waste, and making healthcare more sustainable while maintaining affordability and accessibility.
The device is designed to provide an optimal user experience, ensuring it is ergonomic, functional, and visually appealing. The following key elements contribute to its aesthetic and quality of experience: Ergonomic & User-Friendly Design: The device features a soft, comfortable mouthpiece and adjustable resistance settings, allowing users to personalize their experience based on their needs. Minimalist & Elegant Aesthetics: Unlike traditional bulky medical devices, this product is sleek, modern, and visually appealing, making it more desirable for daily use. The simple design encourages use among a broader demographic, including non-medical users such as singers, actors, and athletes. Multi-Sensory Engagement: The adjustable water level feature allows users to visually track their progress, enhancing motivation. The device also provides auditory feedback, reinforcing correct breathing techniques. Cultural and Emotional Impact: The design considers cultural inclusivity by making it available in multiple colors and custom variations, allowing users to feel a sense of personalization and ownership. Additionally, community-based storytelling—through testimonials and shared user experiences—will strengthen emotional engagement. Sustainable Materials & Aesthetics: The use of recycled and biodegradable materials contributes to a modern, eco-conscious aesthetic, reinforcing sustainability as an integral part of the user experience.
Ensuring affordability, accessibility, and inclusivity is at the core of this project. The key elements that make this initiative exemplary in terms of inclusion include:
Affordability: Traditional therapy devices cost between €50-€200, making them inaccessible to many individuals. This project aims to drastically reduce costs while maintaining high-quality materials, making therapy tools available to low-income communities. Universal Design for All: The device follows Design-for-All principles, ensuring it can be used by individuals of different age groups, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Accessibility for People with Disabilities: Special attention has been given to individuals with speech impairments, lung conditions (such as asthma and post-COVID rehabilitation), and physical limitations. The lightweight, compact design makes it easier for people with limited mobility to use. Community-Based Distribution & Training: The device will be distributed through partnerships with NGOs, healthcare centers, and local organizations, ensuring it reaches underserved communities. Free training materials and online tutorials will be provided to empower users who may not have access to professional therapy services. Language & Cultural Adaptation: The product and its instructional materials will be available in multiple languages, ensuring global accessibility and cultural inclusivity. Social Equity & Gender Inclusivity: The project specifically targets marginalized groups, ensuring gender-balanced representation in product outreach and distribution.
Affordability: Traditional therapy devices cost between €50-€200, making them inaccessible to many individuals. This project aims to drastically reduce costs while maintaining high-quality materials, making therapy tools available to low-income communities. Universal Design for All: The device follows Design-for-All principles, ensuring it can be used by individuals of different age groups, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Accessibility for People with Disabilities: Special attention has been given to individuals with speech impairments, lung conditions (such as asthma and post-COVID rehabilitation), and physical limitations. The lightweight, compact design makes it easier for people with limited mobility to use. Community-Based Distribution & Training: The device will be distributed through partnerships with NGOs, healthcare centers, and local organizations, ensuring it reaches underserved communities. Free training materials and online tutorials will be provided to empower users who may not have access to professional therapy services. Language & Cultural Adaptation: The product and its instructional materials will be available in multiple languages, ensuring global accessibility and cultural inclusivity. Social Equity & Gender Inclusivity: The project specifically targets marginalized groups, ensuring gender-balanced representation in product outreach and distribution.
This project is deeply rooted in community engagement, involving citizens, civil society organizations, and end-users throughout the development process. Co-Design with End Users, Speech therapists, respiratory patients, and professional voice users have actively participated in prototype testing, providing direct feedback to refine the device. As well as collaborations with NGOs & Local Communities: Partnering with organizations supporting respiratory and speech-impaired individuals, ensuring the device reaches underserved groups. And lastly public awareness campaigns which means engaging local communities in sustainability and healthcare discussions to encourage participation in the device’s recycling program.
The engagement will be split into these levels:
Local Level: Partnering with waste collection services for material sourcing and hospitals for clinical validation. Regional Level: Collaborating with health institutions and university researchers to enhance product design. National & European Level: Seeking funding and policy alignment with EU Green Initiatives & NEB goals.
Local Level: Partnering with waste collection services for material sourcing and hospitals for clinical validation. Regional Level: Collaborating with health institutions and university researchers to enhance product design. National & European Level: Seeking funding and policy alignment with EU Green Initiatives & NEB goals.
The project integrates engineering, healthcare, sustainability, and industrial design to create an innovative, user-friendly solution, fostering collaboration across disciplines. Every discipline will be connected to one another, with each one providing crucial information to the full implemetation of the project. The engineering discipline is closely connected to the sustanability discipline with a focus on design, and all of them combined to serve a purpose in the healthcare departament.
This project redefines vocal therapy and breath training by integrating sustainability, affordability, and accessibility, differentiating it from conventional approaches in several key ways: Circular Economy-Based Design: Unlike traditional therapy devices that use single-use plastics, this device is fully recyclable and repairable, ensuring long-term use and waste reduction. Affordable & Scalable Model: Most breath training and vocal therapy tools are expensive (€50-€200). Our device, designed with cost-effective materials and efficient production methods, makes therapy accessible to low-income and underserved populations. Modular & Adjustable Functionality: Unlike conventional static therapy devices, our product features adjustable breath resistance, ergonomic mouthpieces, and customizable water levels, enabling personalized therapy sessions. Low-Energy Manufacturing Process: 3D printing and local production methods reduce energy use and carbon emissions, ensuring a sustainable supply chain. Cross-Disciplinary Applications: While mainstream solutions are limited to medical use, this device is designed for speech therapy, respiratory training, athletic conditioning, and professional voice users (singers, teachers, public speakers).
The project follows a systematic, user-centered design approach to ensure effectiveness, affordability, and sustainability. The methodology includes: Research & Development, Material selection & Sustainability testing, Prototyping & User testing, Production & Local manufacturing, Distribution & Community Engagement. The goal from all these methodologies is to refine and finalize product design based on user feedback, test sustainability and eco-friendliness of the product, test production scalability and market reception, launch the device to a wider audience, expand reach and secure long-term sustainability.
This project presents several scalable elements that can be replicated in different locations, for different beneficiaries, and across various sectors: Technology & Materials: The use of recycled PET plastic and biodegradable PLA can be applied to other medical devices, reducing waste across the healthcare sector. Circular Economy Model: The device return-and-recycle program can be replicated across various industries, creating closed-loop production systems. User-Centric Design: The modular and adjustable nature of the product makes it adaptable for different types of rehabilitation therapy, including speech, respiratory, and athletic training. Low-Cost Production: The 3D printing-based manufacturing model can be adapted by local producers worldwide, creating job opportunities while reducing carbon footprint. Scalable Distribution Strategy: Partnerships with healthcare networks, NGOs, and e-commerce platforms ensure that the device is accessible globally, especially in low-income and underserved communities.
This project provides local, practical solutions to global sustainability and healthcare challenges: Medical Waste Reduction: The project reduces plastic waste by utilizing recycled and biodegradable materials, directly addressing the growing environmental crisis in healthcare waste. Health Inequality & Access to Therapy: Millions of people lack access to affordable vocal therapy and breath training tools. This project provides an accessible, low-cost alternative that can be distributed globally. Post-COVID Rehabilitation: Many COVID-19 survivors struggle with lung function recovery. This device assists in respiratory rehabilitation, providing an affordable, at-home solution. Climate Action & Carbon Footprint Reduction: By focusing on local production, energy-efficient manufacturing, and closed-loop recycling, this project directly contributes to EU and global climate goals. Inclusivity in Healthcare Innovation: The project promotes social equity by ensuring that people of all income levels, ages, and abilities have access to vital respiratory health tools.
This project is a practical, sustainable, and impactful solution for accessible vocal therapy. It embodies the values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Initiative by combining sustainability, inclusion, and design excellence. The implementation of this project is expected to yield significant social, economic, and environmental benefits, directly impacting target users and broader communities. Direct Beneficiaries include Speech therapy & respiratory patients gain access to an affordable, easy-to-use rehabilitation tool, Vocal professionals (singers, teachers, actors) benefit from enhanced breath control and vocal endurance, Low-income and underserved communities access a low-cost alternative to expensive therapy tools. Indirect Beneficiaries include Healthcare providers benefit from an innovative, sustainable treatment option, Recycling industries create a new market for upcycled medical-grade plastics, Environmental advocates promote circular economy solutions in healthcare. One important factor is the Sustainability & Long-Term Impact which includes the reduction of plastic waste in medical devices through sustainable materials, creation of a scalable and replicable model for future sustainable healthcare solutions and increased awareness about eco-friendly alternatives in medical product design.
