Airquity by EarSwitch is a racially inclusive pulse oximeter campaign, redesigning oxygen measurement from the ear canal to deliver fair, life-saving care.
Health inequality isn’t an abstract issue—it’s a measurable, life-or-death reality. Across the UK, the US, and beyond, millions of early deaths are linked to systemic gaps in healthcare. One of the most alarming contributors is hiding in plain sight: everyday medical devices that work better for some people than others.
Airquity is a powerful example of how creative design thinking and inclusive medical innovation can come together to challenge this imbalance. By reimagining a familiar, life-saving tool, Airquity shows how advertising, design, and technology can actively shape a fairer future for healthcare.
The Hidden Bias in Pulse Oximeters
Pulse oximeters are among the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine. They estimate blood oxygen levels and play a critical role in diagnosing respiratory conditions.
The problem?
Traditional pulse oximeters have a fatal flaw for people with darker skin tones.
Why Conventional Oximeters Fall Short
- They use light absorption to estimate oxygen saturation.
- Melanin affects how light travels through the skin.
- In darker skin, readings can be overestimated by up to 7%.
- A difference of just 6–8% can decide whether a patient receives life-saving oxygen or is sent home untreated.
This technical limitation has contributed to suboptimal care and avoidable deaths, particularly among Black communities who already face structural disadvantages and deep mistrust in healthcare systems.
A Global Health Inequality That Can’t Be Ignored
Racial disparities in healthcare are not limited to one country or system.
- People of African and African-American descent are three times more likely to die from respiratory conditions than white patients.
- Medical devices have historically been designed, tested, and validated on Caucasian populations.
- Marginalised groups have been underrepresented in clinical trials for decades.
These inequalities highlight a harsh truth: healthcare technology has not been built for everyone.
The Creative Idea: Designing Around Bias, Not Through It
Rather than trying to “fix” the limitations of existing pulse oximeters, Airquity took a more radical—and creative—approach.
A Simple but Powerful Insight
There is one place on the human body where skin tone doesn’t vary in the same way:
The ear canal.
By shifting the measurement site away from the skin’s surface, designers identified an opportunity to bypass melanin-based bias entirely.
What Is Airquity?
Airquity is a non-invasive, core pulse oximeter designed to measure vital health metrics from the inner ear canal, where skin looks the same regardless of race.
Key Features
- Medical-grade accuracy
- Racially inclusive diagnostic readings
- Non-invasive biometric sensing
- Designed for real-world clinical use
Empowered by EarSwitch technology, Airquity reframes what equitable healthcare tools can look like—without compromising performance or usability.
Strategy & Insight: Challenging Systemic Design Failures
The strategy behind Airquity is rooted in a critical observation:
Health inequity is not only a social problem—it’s a design problem.
Medical tools shape clinical decisions. When those tools are biased, outcomes become biased too.
Airquity directly addresses:
- Survival inequity linked to inaccurate diagnostics
- Structural bias embedded in healthcare technology
- Trust gaps between marginalised communities and medical systems
By removing racial bias at the diagnostic level, Airquity creates a foundation for more equitable treatment outcomes.
Execution: Turning Medical Innovation into a Human Story
The Airquity campaign avoids cold, technical storytelling. Instead, it leans into emotion and human impact.
Campaign Highlights
- A product film presented in a consumer-style narrative
- Clear demonstration of real-world benefits
- Focus on patients, not just technology
This approach bridges the gap between complex medical innovation and public understanding—making the issue personal, urgent, and impossible to ignore.
Real-World Impact and Industry Recognition
Airquity’s innovation is already translating into tangible progress.
Key Results
- EarSwitch has been accepted into the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP), a programme accelerating life-saving technologies into the NHS.
- The scheme supports regulatory navigation, clinical validation, and faster patient access.
- In early 2025, the FDA released updated guidelines requiring greater racial inclusion in clinical testing, marking a major industry shift.
Airquity is positioning itself as the first racially agnostic pulse oximeter, with the potential to create equitable access to care for:
- 380 million people across the UK, USA, and Europe
- 3.5 billion people globally
Why Airquity Matters Beyond Healthcare
Airquity isn’t just a medical device—it’s a case study in purpose-driven innovation.
For creatives, marketers, and designers, it proves that:
- Inclusive design can save lives
- Creativity can challenge systemic injustice
- Advertising can amplify meaningful change
It’s a reminder that the most powerful campaigns don’t just sell products—they rewrite the rules.
Final Thoughts: Creativity That Saves Lives
Airquity stands at the intersection of design thinking, healthcare innovation, and social impact. By identifying a blind spot in medical technology and responding with a bold, human-centred solution, it sets a new benchmark for inclusive design.
In a world where health inequality has been normalised for too long, Airquity shows what happens when creativity refuses to accept the status quo—and chooses to design for everyone instead.
Credits
Brand: Earswitch
Campaign: Airquity
Agency: Havas Lynx
Production Company: Prose on Pixels, Manchester, UK
This campaign is about:
Airquity, EarSwitch, Airquity By EarSwitch Campaign, Pulse Oximeter, Health Equity, Medical Technology, Inclusive Healthcare Innovation, Biased Medical Devices, Pulse Oximeter Accuracy Dark Skin, Healthcare Inequality, Medical Device, Design Thinking, Inclusive Diagnostic Tools, Healthcare Advertising Campaign, Creative Healthcare Marketing, Innovative Medical Devices, Healthcare.