Wearable devices, in particular activity trackers — i.e. glorified pedometers — have skyrocketed wearable technology to the mainstream. Companies left and right are hopping on the wearables bandwagon with very limited success. The industry is calling it wearable fatigue. Wearables aren’t sticking because consumers are not willing to alter their behavior to accommodate the product. One solution is to give consumers a form factor they are already comfortable with, namely devices that you wear in your ear.

Smart ear devices, or “hearables,” are the new horizon in the wearable space and for good reason. Current wearables — fitness wristbands, heart rate straps, even Google Glass — tend to be novelty-based and require convincing consumers to put something new on their body. Alternatively, ear devices have the potential to make a lasting impact in the wearable space.

Think about it: How many people use headphones, earbuds or hearing aids on a daily basis? Since the invention of the Walkman in 1979, portable headphones have become the most widely adopted wearable device in the world. The trouble with the fitness bands, heart rate straps and Google Glasses of the world today is lack of use. Fitness enthusiasts may forget to put on their fitness band, but they need their earbuds to listen to music at the gym. The elderly may have a difficult time putting their wearable device on their wrist due to arthritis, but many use hearing aids daily. It’s time to shift our focus to the ear.

Why the Ear? Isn’t the Wrist Where It’s At?

The brilliant thing about placing a wearable device in the ear is that the ear provides a clearer gateway into brain and body activity. Currently, wearables on the wrist are kludgy, have significant kinks that lead to inaccuracy, and can be easily manipulated. Have you ever seen someone vigorously shaking their wrist to hit their daily steps? It happens. That’s where hearables come into play. Hearable devices have the potential to provide vital information, including heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, pulse and even electrocardiography — the electrical activity of the heart, from a very unobtrusive position on the body. Apple’s next generation “earpods,” in fact, are rumored to have the ability to track heart rate and blood pressure.

Won’t Hearables Look Funny?

Are you picturing people walking around with a dated, bulky Bluetooth enabled earpiece or a 90’s telemarketer headset strapped to their ear? Think less bulk, more discrete. Spike Jonze created a progressive glimpse into the future of what hearables could look like in his latest film, Her. Viewers got a peek at a barely-there, cordless earbud that characters easily popped into their ear at the start of their day and popped out again at the end, providing a seamless experience between what’s going on in reality and what’s happening digitally, online or in one’s body — something Google Glass aims to do, but falls short, as many claim Glass to be distracting. As hearables begin to enter the wearables scene, developers are quickly making Jonze’s futuristic earbuds a reality.

In the past year, crowdsourcing has funded the development of miniscule, smart wireless earbuds. Earin recently used Kickstarter to back the production of its 14-by-20mm earbud with Bluetooth capability, a size they claim is the world’s smallest earbud. It’s scheduled to begin manufacturing at the end of this year. Another Kickstarter campaign that received more than $3.3 million in funding earlier this year was The Dash, the first performance tracking in-ear headphones created by German company Bragi. Similar to Earin, The Dash is cordless and fits discreetly in the ear. It works without a phone and gives users the ability to play music, track physical activity (speed, time, distance and cadence) and measure body performance (heart rate, oxygen saturation, energy spent).

As devices for your ear get smaller and smarter, it’s time for innovators to not only tackle the overcrowded fitness tracking industry, but hone in on life-changing solutions for the aging community.

Wearable Tech for the Aging — Age of the Ear?

It’s estimated that nearly half of adults ages 75 years and older have hearing loss, and with 76.4 million baby boomers moving into their 50s, 60s and 70s, there is about to be a massive influx of elderly people in the market for a hearing device. Bizarrely, hearing aid adoption is incredibly low by those who most need them — of the 35 million children and adults in the U.S. who would benefit from a hearing aid, less than 25 percent actually use them. Extreme cost is the number one barrier of entry for the hearing impaired.

The secret to making hearing aids more appealing and the cost more palatable is improving the value of the device. Imagine the health tracking possibilities a simple sensor could add? In-home elderly care is made ever more practical as doctors and family members are able to monitor the vitals of their patients and loved ones in real time. Accident response time for strokes, seizures and heart attacks in the elderly could decrease dramatically.

Medical use cases aside, hearables can simply provide a better quality of life. Making a phone call without having to pick up a phone and dial a number can help those with arthritis or mobility issues feel connected in an otherwise isolated world. Baby boomers will want continued access to the Internet, but may have a difficult time seeing or controlling the mouse or keyboard as they age. A smart ear device can make it possible to research information online through a series of voice commands and digital reading response capabilities.

While wearables have a great deal of potential to track our activity and improve how we report medical information, they are hampered by their current form factor. Hearing aid devices are prime for disruption — they are a high-cost single-value product that can and should do so much more. The wearable industry needs to remember the ear and take advantage of this ideal location to provide a perfected user experience. Perhaps then we’ll see some real device stickiness in the wearable tech arena.

Stephen Brown is Mobile Strategy Director for Mutual Mobile.