Number one arts stage for customised hearing aid jewellery

By Liz Pusey

Adjusting to wearing hearing instruments can be a very personal transition; one that Deafmetal has made easier for many with the creation of hearing aid jewellery pieces designed to bring individuality and style to functional hearing devices.

Jenni Ahtiainen
Courtesy of Jenni Ahtiainen

We first met Finnish designer Jenni Ahtiainen a few months ago to talk about her experience as the founder of Deafmetal, and to hear about how the company is changing the narrative around hearing instruments, making them into something to be proud of with her bold and beautiful jewellery creations.

Jenni told us: “I feel proud of who I am and a real sense of ownership over my experience of having hearing loss. It’s not an obstacle, or an addition to who I am, I am simply a person who wears hearing aids. I made my first holster to help my hearing devices match my own style and I want everyone to give others that same experience; to feel empowered to show off their devices in a way that feels good to them.”

Jenni is about to take her creations a step further with the Second Chance Project, creating deeply personal jewellery pieces out of client’s own trinkets.

Taking hidden treasures and giving them a purpose

Throughout our lives we often receive inherited or gifted items from family members and loved ones that we may not wear but we keep safe, or jewellery that breaks but we cannot bear to part with it. We hold on to these things because they hold a personal meaning or a memory.

The Second Chance Project calls them forgotten treasures; small pieces that are beautiful in their own way and deserve the chance to be worn proudly. Could these metals be recycled into jewellery with a purpose? Jenni feels passionately that they can.

“To be able to make the jewellery a part of you and your individual style is really important,” Jenni says. “For many people, they wouldn’t leave the house without make up or their favourite hat. For me, my hearing aid jewellery gives me that sense of being me, and I want to combine people’s treasured pieces with their hearing devices to create one-of-a-kind Deafmetals that are truly personal.”

Hearing aid creations inspired by Japanese tradition

© Cathy Conneff
Deafmetal (www.deafmetal.store/product/694/second-chance-for-your-jewelry) giving a second chance to cherished jewellery pieces.

The project is inspired by Kintsugi, the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver or platinum. Rather than hiding the cracks in the damaged pottery, Kintsugi highlights them and makes them beautiful, reflecting the idea that what might be seen by some as an imperfection is a unique detail that is part of the object’s history and can add value.

This concept is exactly what Deafmetal is all about; our unique differences are what make us special, they are part of our personal stories and they should be celebrated.

Deafmetals are handmade with love, both for the wearer and the planet, with all jewellery made from recycled metals. Jenni wanted to take this ethos of recycling and repurposing a step further and reuse some of the precious metals we all keep at home, recrafting it into hearing device jewellery that is uniquely designed for you.

These might simply be items you’ve never worn because they don’t suit your style or something far more personal, as the Deafmetal introduction describes: ‘a grandmother’s earring or necklace, a mother’s pearl or pendant, rings, stones, or even bones.’

Jenni explained why she is so passionate about the new project: “I have always loved the process of designing and creating jewellery, but since launching Deafmetal, more and more of my time is taken with the operational side of the business. I love what we do for our clients, but I wanted something new to challenge me and bring back an element of creativity into my work.”

“The Second Chance Project is more than just creating something beautiful; it’s taking someone’s memories and the emotions connected to their jewellery and reshaping it into a new treasure that they can wear and display with pride. The trust involved in that is huge and I don’t take it lightly. I treat every piece as if it were my own, taking care to preserve something so deeply personal while also giving it a new purpose,” she adds.

Changing people’s perceptions of living with hearing loss

Design and Disability Exhibition, until February 15, 2026 at the V&A, London.
© Peter Kelleher

During the launch of the Design and Disability exhibition at London’s V&A Museum, BIHIMA was invited to meet Jenni for an exclusive look at how the Second Chance Project works in practice.

Throughout the event people came with their own pieces of jewellery, including actress and Deafmetal wearer Cathy Conneff, who brought along two lockets that her mum had given to her.

Jenni asked about the history of the locket, Cathy’s personal style, different options for how she might want to wear them, crucially talking through the process of hammering and reshaping the lockets. It was both fascinating and heartwarming to see how Jenni’s mind immediately began designing options for the new jewellery, careful to preserve their original beauty while also creating something new and original that Cathy would be excited to wear.

Cathy told us, “Jenni has totally changed my perception of wearing my hearing aids and I love to wear my Deafmetals now. It feels special to be asked to bring my jewellery along and I’m genuinely excited to see what she creates.”

Actress Cathy Conneff (left) gave pieces of jewellery to be reshaped by Jenni Ahtiainen (right).
Photo: LP

The personal connection Jenni creates through her jewellery is felt by customers all over the world. In the responses to a recent Deafmetal customer survey there are many different echoes of Cathy’s own experience. As one user says: “Being able to customise my hearing aids makes them mine. They become something I own and choose to wear rather than a medical thing I’m forced to wear.”

The Second Chance Project is a creative new perspective on hearing instrument jewellery, giving a new lease of life to personal treasures that might otherwise never be worn again. It’s a deeply personal process for both clients and Jenni herself, who said: “Being able to create pieces with people’s personal treasures in this way is a special feeling, I feel honoured to be able to do it.”

ABOUT BIHIMA

BIHIMA, the British Irish Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association, works in partnership with health professionals, trade, regulatory, and consumer organisations on a mission to improve public awareness of hearing health and advocate for the latest hearing technologies that can transform lives.