Teen’s Invention to Help Patients Communicate Gains International Attention

As a 12-year-old boy, Lucca Riccio watched his grandmother struggle to communicate while being treated at the hospital.

“It was nearly impossible when she would try and talk through the oxygen mask,” he recalled. “It was so loud and it covered her mouth which made it really hard for her to talk.”

Lucca Riccio’s ‘Tube Talker’ has earned recognition at the Connecticut Invention Convention, National Invention Convention and Youth Start European Entrepreneur Award Competition.

Determined, Riccio set out to find a solution. He began working on what he calls the “Tube Talker.” It amplifies a patient’s voice while using noise cancellation technology to eliminate the noise of an oxygen machine.

Riccio, now 17 and a Southington High School senior, has garnered such acclaim for his invention he won awards at the Connecticut Invention Convention, National Invention Convention and also received $22,000 from CTNext, which supports Connecticut startups …read more