I love the look of this product – Earflo. Not only is the functional design of the product clever, but the user experience design is super smart (and good-looking) too.

This is important, because it would have been easy for this to look like a beige medical device – like a big, scary mask-like thing that would send kids running. (I remember the terror of my 3 year old daughter at being asked to use an inhaler spacer!).

But it doesn’t – it looks and operates like a sippy cup – skeuomorphic design (mimicking something familiar) and the MAYA principle (designing new technology for acceptance) working brilliantly to help ensure kids accept the product and feel comfortable with it.

Even more brilliantly, it comes with an app, to gamify the experience of using it (suck at the device long enough to make the rocket ship launch). 🚀

It’s a great example of design and marketing thinking integrating seamlessly with product development, to persuade and influence behaviour. It’s no wonder it was named best of innovation in digital health for CES 2026.

It does get me wondering though – why we don’t see more of this kind of thinking in medtech for adults? We may not be as prone to running crying into another room when presented with a new innovation, but in our own ways, we’re just as scared, suspicious or intimidated by them.

The way products are talked about, marketed, advertised and even designed in terms of their form, can reduce scepticism and fear, and increase trust and propensity to try and adopt them.