02 / Digital health · Rapid prototyping

VoiceWell — BLA Hackathon

A voice and swallowing health app prototype, developed in one day with clinicians, biomedical specialists and engineers.

The VoiceWell team holding the hackathon prize cheque. — Our team after winning first place at the BLA hackathon.

My role: Technical prototyping · Multidisciplinary team
Status: One-day app prototype
When: September 2026 · One day
Outcome: 1st place · £1,000 team prize

The challenge

At the British Laryngological Association’s Cutting Edge Laryngology Hackathon, our team explored how a simple app could help people notice gradual changes in their voice and swallowing health.

Working with clinicians and biomedical specialists brought clinical knowledge into the design process and helped shape our approach.

What we built

We developed VoiceWell, a web app prototype designed around a short, five-minute self-assessment. The concept combined voice exercises, a swallowing questionnaire and progress tracking.

The health and wellness concept used guided self-assessments and visual estimates to help people engage with their voice and swallowing health.

Voice recording

Short vocal exercises intended to capture and analyse voice characteristics.

Swallowing checks

A guided self-assessment and symptom questionnaire.

Voice and swallowing age

Proposed visual estimates intended to make results easier to understand.

Progress tracking

A way to follow changes over time and access guided exercises.

VoiceWell workshop participants discussing ideas around a table with laptops and handwritten notes in a library. — Discussing ideas together during the VoiceWell workshop.

My contribution

I focused on the technical side, helping translate the team’s medical ideas into an app prototype with a simple Codex workflow in VS Code.

We had only one day, so a big part of the challenge was deciding what we could realistically build and demonstrate. I contributed from the engineering and prototyping side while the clinicians and biomedical specialists shaped the medical context.

The VoiceWell team working together at laptops during the hackathon. — Working through the prototype with clinicians, biomedical specialists and engineers.

Outcome

We presented our prototype to the judges and won first place, receiving a £1,000 team prize.

We took an unfamiliar problem from initial discussions to a demonstrable prototype in a single day. It was a good introduction to building something quickly with people from very different technical backgrounds.

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