Hilliard startup Avianova developing cooling earpiece to reduce vertigo; CityLab cited as early support

Noor Taish Hamim, founder of Avianova and executive director of Jordan Student Space Outreach and Academic Relations (JSOAR), described work on a prototype cooling earpiece she said can blunt spatial disorientation and motion sickness in aircraft and spaceflight during an interview on the Hilliard CityLab Connect podcast.

Hamim said the device uses localized cooling of the inner ear to reduce vestibular reactivity and that Avianova has reached early development milestones, including two provisional patent applications and eight letters of intent from Department of Defense and healthcare partners. "It's kind of like a cold plunge for your ears," Hamim said.

The project gained early support from the Hilliard CityLab tech incubator, which Hamim said provided mentoring, networking and an innovation grant that helped her move from a conceptual pitch deck to partnership discussions with manufacturers and distributors. "City of Hilliard staff...said, 'Let's get a meeting,' and that gave me a lot of confidence," she said.

Why it matters: Hamim framed the device as addressing a persistent operational problem. She told the podcast that two out of three people who go to space still experience motion sickness despite training and that roughly 40 percent of Americans suffer vertigo. Avianova's goal, she said, is both to reduce spatial disorientation in aviation and to offer a therapeutic option for terrestrial vestibular disorders.

How the device works and where it stands Hamim described the earpiece as a small, in-ear device that cools the vestibular organs to slow metabolic activity in the fluid and hair cells that control balance. She said prior medical work explored similar approaches decades ago but that past methods were invasive; Avianova's design is intended as a noninvasive, wearable alternative. "We found a way to slowly cool down the ear and lower the metabolism or the fluid that controls our balance in the ear to dampen the reactivity of the ear," Hamim said.

Hamim placed Avianova at technology readiness level (TRL) 3, saying the company has digital designs and ongoing conversations with distribution and manufacturing partners. She said the company plans to begin testing and to integrate the device with flight crews, and that it has a secondary application to fly with astronauts from the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IAS) within the next two years.

Research basis and competitors Hamim cited existing research on cryotherapy and vestibular testing—ent clinicians use cold or hot irrigation to diagnose vestibular disorders—and named two competitors using related approaches: Sion Neurosym (cooling) and Autolith Labs (vibrational therapies). She characterized Avianova's method as nonvibrational and cooling-based.

Claims of incidence and operational impact in her interview were attributed to Hamim: she said about 30 percent of Department of Defense aviation accidents relate to spatial disorientation and that 2 out of 3 space travelers experience motion sickness. The article reports those figures as Hamim presented them on the podcast and does not independently verify them.

Education and outreach Hamim also described her work with JSOAR, which she said runs outreach programs across K–12 and university levels and operates a Cubes in Space program that mentors students through experiment design and payload submission to NASA requirements. She gave an example of students at Saint Brother Andre Elementary School in Canada who, she said, discovered that EpiPens can be unsafe in space and are now researching safer containers for microgravity.

Funding and next steps Hamim said Avianova is prioritizing grant funding to derisk development but is open to investor conversations. "We're prioritizing grant funding first to derisk and finish our research...but absolutely open to talk to investors," she said. She noted provisional patents, letters of intent, and planned testing as immediate steps.

Contacts and context Hamim credited Hilliard CityLab and local networking events such as Techstars mixers for early introductions that helped her secure partners and progress Avianova from a pitch deck to active development. She recommended connecting with her on LinkedIn and said the company maintains a web presence.

The interview aired on the Hilliard CityLab Connect podcast; statements about technology readiness, patent filings, letters of intent and incidence rates are reported as described by Hamim on the program and have not been independently verified by the podcast hosts or this article.