Time magazine has named an Australian ‘sippy cup’ invention to help drain fluid from the ears of children with otitis media as one of the best inventions of 2025.
For each of the past 25 years, TIME editors have highlighted the most impactful new products and ideas in its TIME’s Best Inventions issue.
In this year’s list of ‘the 300 best inventions making the world better, smarter, and more fun’ was the Earflo device which ranked 12th out of 39 innovations in the medical and healthcare category.
Biomedical engineers and ENT specialists developed the device to offer “a safe, at-home solution for treating negative middle ear pressure, helping families avoid surgery and improve their children’s quality of life”, its website states.
The device, designed to look like a sippy cup, is not yet on the market but its manufacturer said it was FDA 510(k) pending, meaning an application has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration.
The device aims to treat negative middle ear pressure in children which can lead to fluid build-up in the ears (otitis media with effusion or OME) and chronic ear infections that can affect hearing.
The autoinflation device disguised as a drinking bottle aligns the child’s nose with a nasal mask that gently pressurises the nasal cavity in coordination with swallowing, assisting in Eustachian tube opening.
Blows air into nose
Co-founder and biomedical engineer Dr Intan Oldakowska, a senior engineering lecturer from The University of Western Australia, explained how it works in a video on the Earflo website.
“It’s a medical device to help treat young kids with chronic ear infections at home, kids as young as one,” she said. “Earflo provides air flow into the nasal cavity synchronised with their swallowing. This essentially blows air into their nose and pops their ear open, ventilating the middle ear. We hope that with daily use over four weeks, this drains effusion from the middle ear and help restore their hearing.’
Co-founder, biomedical engineer and University of Western Australia senior lecturer, Dr Matthew Oldawkowska, said, on the website, that when children swallow water from the cup, the device releases a puff of air into their nose. This opens up their ears and aims to get rid of the gunk behind the eardrum which causes pain
Gaming app
The cup is also used with an app, providing gamification for children.
“The app senses the pressure in the nasal cavity and when the pressure goes above our success pressure which we know is opening the tubes, a rocket goes up (on the app game) and hits a star,” he said. “Once the kid collects five stars, they get a digital reward.”
Its inventors said the aim was for the device to help otitis media go away by itself and help children avoid the need for grommet surgery.
The other founders are Australian ENT surgeon, Prof Peter Santa Maria, now University of Pittsburgh Department of Otolaryngology Division Chief of Otology and Neurotology, and former Australian solicitor Dr Stephen Kargotich, who has a PhD in microbiology and immunology, and is executive director of SPARK NS independent non-profit translational research organisation.
ENT conference presentation
Dr Santa Maria and otolaryngology resident Dr Nanki Hura from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center presented findings from an Earflo pilot study at the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2025 annual meeting in October 2025. They said the study demonstrated “strong potential benefit in regular middle ear ventilation” using Earflo.
“Regular ventilation of the middle ear with a novel autoinflation device for patients with OME or ETD undergoing “watchful waiting” demonstrates significant improvement in audiometry and tympanometry outcomes in as early as two weeks,” they reported.
The study was in 21 patients and 42 ears (71% male, mean 5.6 years). Ears with baseline hearing loss (average 25.6 dBHL) demonstrated an average improvement in pure tone average of 10.8 dB at 2 weeks and 8.6 dB at 4 weeks compared to baseline, they said.
Average middle ear pressure improved from -341.5 decapascals (daPa) at baseline to -202.6 daPa after two weeks of use and remained stable at -209.2 daPa after four weeks of use. Average OM-6 scores at eight weeks were significantly improved compared to baseline.
Successful Australian trial by Earbus Foundation
Audiologist Dr Lara Shur, CEO and co-founder of the Earbus Foundation of Western Australia, mentions Earflo in an otitis media feature in the upcoming December 2025-January 2026 edition of Hearing Practitioner Australia magazine.
She predicted Earflo would have a big impact on OM.
“Those involved with developing it have done an amazing job,” Dr Shur said. “I think it’s going to change otitis media for the world. Ideally, every family would have an Earflo sippy cup; they’d start with this, and if it didn’t help, progress to a doctor and treatment.”
She said that about 78% of children who used it in a small Earbus trial improved from type B (OM with effusion) or C (developing infection or fluid buildup) to type A, which is normal.
Earflo has previously won awards and was recently named a CES Innovation Awards Best of Innovation in Digital Health and was a gold winner in the Health: Innovation category at The Anthem Awards 2025, an international social impact award.
Nuance Audio glasses also named
Nuance Audio Glasses were also listed in the health and wellness category of TIME’s best inventions for 2025.
And sustainable GOB earplugs made from lab-grown mushroom roots were also named in the health and wellness category. The cylindrical earplugs offer protection from 12 to 25 dB and can be work for sleep, air travel or concerts, its manufacturers said.
