Merrillville High School sophomore Isaiah Harvey is working on a set of haptic devices designed to assist hard of hearing youth and individuals with dementia in emergency situations. His idea emerged after observing how people, including himself, could be placed at-risk when unable to hear critical alerts.
“My inspiration came from when I would see a lot of people who’ve been in certain cases of a fire alarm and they couldn’t hear it,” Harvey said. “I was one of those people back in middle school. I couldn’t hear the fire alarms, and so I decided to use that to make a device that can help people like me to hear what is coming or what they can’t see.”
The invention, which uses vibration and audio signals to alert users to danger, is designed for real-world emergency situations like fires or other alerts that may be missed due to hearing impairments. The devices offer flexibility in how they deliver notifications.
“Haptic devices, there’s actually a few ways that you can use it,” he said. “You can either use it as a vibration, so, if it senses a fire nearby, it will be vibrating on your arm. Or you could connect it to your hearing aid, so that way it will say ‘fire near you.’ Or you can have it as a little screen so it will give a certain rhythm/sound.”
This innovation recently earned Harvey a place among the 2025 winners of the Purdue University Society of Innovators. He’s also been invited to tour the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The recognition, however, marks just the beginning of his plans.
“This is only the start,” Harvey said. “Really, I mean like me winning the Purdue Innovators of 2025 is just the beginning of what I’m planning to do in the next couple of years regarding inventions for people who need it the most.”
While the project involved input from engineers and experts, Harvey contributed his ideas and direction throughout the development process. According to him, the support he received helped streamline the technical aspects.
“There wasn’t really any, because most of it, I had help from engineers and people who knew and have better knowledge than me regarding devices,” he said. “And so, I still played a part in certain things, but this was just simply a small part of what will happen during my next innovation.”
Plans for the future include manufacturing the devices on a larger scale and ensuring that they remain accessible to the communities that need them most.
“Yes, we’re also going to be reaching out to manufacturers to hopefully get them all printed,” Harvey said. “And we are also planning on making them safe and affordable for people who need them.”
