I was commissioned to produce 3 light boxes for the waiting room of the audiology department outpatients in Broadgreen Hospital Liverpool. Each one represented a different set of experiences from the clinicians to the outpatients and family both before and after having a hearing aid fitted. The light boxes were to give a focus and uplift to a room with no natural light; to be easy to ‘read’ but also repay closer inspection through repeat visits to the clinic with the layers of colour, objects and text
I used the same design elements in each: seaweed, feathers and shells, to give unity to the three pieces and used text to give each their own theme. The words are those given to me directly by staff and out patients and reflect various experiences of living with hearing loss and hearing aids. The resulting layers allow people to explore the work in more depth.
The commission for the Audiology Department of Broadgreen Hospital explores the design links between the inner ear and sea images.
Dr Adrian Cairns and staff loved the blue and found it restful. He was impressed with the cochlear I had used [- not many people think of using the inner ear, he said – ] for a very strong reason in that the endolymph fluid inside the inner ear has the same chemical components as sea water – the design choices of shoreline and sea themes were therefore particularly apt.
Sian Hughes 