The TrustFit Pod is a reusable push-in foam earplug. The unique patented technology and excellent design are designed to provide the wearer with unsurpassed comfort and ease of use while protecting the user's hearing health. Highly identifiable compliance design helps to improve hearing protection awareness; at the same time, reusable design can also help lower overall hearing conservation program costs with products that are engineered to reduce waste with environmentally friendly. The TrustFit Pod is a perfect blend of comfort and convenience.

This product focuses on the ergonomic of earplugs, protection performance and comfort, and has achieved the following user value: • Effective fit and comfort: Honeywell's signature soft foam and unique pod shape conforms to the unique shape of each ear canal for comfortable noise reduction. The patented dimples feature in the tip of the Pod allow the appropriate deformation that enhances fit and depth of insertion, to provide a quick filling of the user's ear canal and thus achieving more effective noise protection with less ear canal pressure. • Ergonomic paddle design: When using earplugs, you need to evenly roll-down the earplugs into thin rods and put them into the ear to make them more evenly and elastically fit the user's ear canal. The compact, easy-to-pinch, delicate paddle design of this product eliminates the need for rolling these earplugs down before use, fitting is easy and the foam tips stay clean, even when your hands are dirty, helping to reduce hygiene concerns and time-consuming insertion. At the same time, the ergonomic paddle design fits naturally between finger and thumb, with-or-without lightweight work gloves. Its flexible stem material gently pushes the foam tip into the ear canal to rest comfortably during the work day. In addition, the TPU handle stem is stiff enough for insertion, yet designed to flex sideways if impacted • Reusable for cost saving: cost savings, workers only need a pair every 5 days, after working every day, can be wiped clean with a moist cloth and reused, compared to ordinary earplugs, not only for cost saving, but also more environmentally friendly. • Trustworthy: The TrustFit Pod earplug design was developed using the Howard Leight VeriPRO® earplug fit-test system to reliably measure fit consistency. The noise reduction level (NRR) is 28 dB. Recommended applications include assembly and mechanical, chipping, chiseling, cleaning, drilling, furnace operations, grinding, heavy equipment operations, machining, metal repair, painting, pouring/casting, power fastening, riveting, sanding, sawing and welding.

As a consumable safety protection product, industrial noise reduction earplugs have a strong and rigid demand in industrial production. Honeywell's industrial noise reduction earphones sold more than 10 million pairs in China in 2016. Many large domestic manufacturers are customers of Honeywell's hearing protection products. Such as Sinopec Group, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and Datang Energy. The TrustFit Pod earbuds were released in early 2016 and are expected to reach $5 million in sales worldwide in five years.

Hearing loss is a global public health problem, and industrial noise occupational exposure is one of the main causes of adult hearing loss. Studies have shown that 16% of hearing loss in the world stems from workplace noise, and long-term work in high-noise environments without protective measures will inevitably cause permanent irreparable hearing loss, seriously affecting the physical and mental health of workers. By WHO estimation, there are currently 466 million people worldwide with deafness and hearing loss. The situation in China is also not optimistic. According to the survey, people with moderate or higher hearing disabilities in China accounted for 5.17% of the total population. With the rapid development of China's economy, hearing loss and other related diseases caused by occupational noise exposure are rapidly increasing, becoming one of the serious problems that threaten the health of Chinese workers. Occupational noise deafness has replaced chronic chemical poisoning as the second largest occupational disease after pneumoconiosis in China. The number of noise-induced deafness reported in 2015 increased by 18.77% compared with 2014, and increased by 13.77% in 2016 compared with 2015. In the field of industrial safety, especially in terms of hearing protection, Honeywell actively and continuously provides professional and effective protection solutions for industrial workers with its deep technical accumulation for decades. The newly developed TrustFit Pod hopes to improve the awareness of hearing protection in the industrial field with low cost but high efficiency products, be alert to occupational hearing impairment, strengthen workplace noise protection, and wisely promote the use of hearing protection to almost completely prevent hearing loss caused by noise. Honeywell is leading the way in hearing protection.

The project team is mainly composed of 15 full-time cross-function NPI (new product development) team members, including (1) Product Manager and Sales from Marketing Department, mainly responsible for collecting customer needs and defining new product design requirements; (2) Project Manager, mainly responsible for project process and resource management; (3) Mechanical Engineer, Material Engineer, Prototyping Engineer and Testing Engineer from R&D Department, mainly responsible for functional product design, molding, prototyping and testing; (4) Industrial Designer, Ergonomic Designer, User Experience Researcher from HUE (Honeywell User Experience) Department, mainly responsible for product appearance, ergonomics, user experience design and validation; (5) Certification Engineer, mainly responsible for product certification testing; (6) Sourcing Engineer, mainly responsible for material procurement and supplier management.

We took Honeywell User Experience (HUE) and New Product Development (NPI) processes. Honeywell User Experience (HUE) is one of our key process initiatives that helps us best understand the needs of our customers and design intuitive, desirable, differentiated and value-add products and services that meet those needs. In the user centered design process, in this project, we specifically did well and creatively in ease of use evaluation, rapid prototyping and touch point design. • Ease of use evaluation: We acquired existing products in the market, put the products in a simulated factory environment to simulate using scenarios. Then we invite potential users to simulate real use, for example, to take out the earplugs before wearing the noise area and wear them, etc., and wear them when wearing naked gloves and wearing gloves of different thicknesses. Based on the user evaluations and field studies, we defined the design guidelines and lead to breakthrough ideas in maximizing usability. • Rapid Prototyping: Once the preferred design concept is selected based on a rigorous Pugh analysis. The designer immediately created clay model by manual. The fast and rough model not only shows the appearance of the design, but also shows its main design features. The iterative rapid prototyping from rough mockup to 3D printing to CNC fine prototype lead design decision making process and the product development process much faster. • User experience test: We test the user experience such as adaptability, comfort, pressure in the ear, handle grip, etc. in the laboratory during each round of sample trials; in addition, we go deeper to the front-line workshop and ask the workers to try our products and collect the corresponding feedback. This rigorous evaluation and diagnostic design attitude has greatly improved product quality in each iteration. • Touch Point design: By analyzing the customer journey and touch points of the journey. We tried our best to design the touch points to maximize the usability as well. For example, a larger handle design allows the user to wear earplugs while wearing gloves. The anti-slip paddle design prevents potential wearing difficulties when sweating naked. • Fit Test: The Trust-Fit Pod earbud design was developed using the HowardLeightVeriPRO® earbud fit test system to reliably measure fit.

2 years - 3 years 0.5million - 1million

The project initially developed a push-in earbud, and actual sales and market feedback exceeded expectations. The small products are more stressful, and the ease of use and comfort of the products exceed expectations in the same performance. This product not only enriches Honeywell's hearing protection product line, but is also a key project to increase market share.