#SoCaltech: Danielle Yang
"I grew up as a hard-of-hearing athlete. I played lacrosse and ran track and field, but my hearing aid would get damaged by sweat or rain. It also fell out a lot when I ran into people. I didn't end up wearing it a lot, which meant I was missing things on the field—a teammate calling for a pass or someone coming up behind me. So, I started sketching what a hearing device for athletes could actually look like if it were built for the way we move.
The system has three parts. There's an ear shield that locks the device to the ear, so it stays put through contact. There's a full headband made with GORE-TEX material to protect the electronics from sweat and rain. And there are four vibrating sensors built into the headband that detect potential hazards—another player closing in, a ball coming at you—and buzz against the skin to warn you. It's a sixth sense, basically. The thing I keep coming back to is that I wasn't trying to replace hearing. I was trying to give athletes like me information in a form that the body can actually use mid-play."
Danielle Yang, a first-year undergraduate at Caltech planning to major in applied and computational mathematics, earned top honors in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition for her high school team’s invention, “Storm Shield.” As a result, her team and public high school were awarded $125,000 in technology. She was recognized at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics this February and appointed a Samsung Solve Ambassador. Samsung and the International Olympic Committee are now collaborating with Yang and her team to explore commercializing the device. Yang is also a student researcher at Caltech’s Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy, where she helps study election integrity, misinformation, and the influence of large language models on democratic processes.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.