What the device does
Finsen Headphones combine two functions in one wearable. The first is diagnosis: software trained to recognise the signature of a middle ear infection, so that the condition can be identified without a clinic visit. The second is treatment, delivered by blue light.
The name points at the science. Niels Ryberg Finsen won a Nobel Prize for the medical use of light, and light-based antibacterial treatment is a field with a long research history. Fan's contribution was to put detection and treatment into a single device aimed at children.
The 3M Young Scientist Challenge
The competition is run by 3M with Discovery Education and is open to American middle-school students. Finalists are paired with a 3M scientist as a mentor over a summer, develop a prototype, and present it to judges; one winner takes the title of America's Top Young Scientist and $25,000.
Discovery Education announced the 2022 result on 19 October: a 14-year-old from California had won. The official Young Scientist Lab site carries her in the list of past winners, which is the durable record of the title.
Why ear infections
Middle ear infection is one of the most common childhood illnesses worldwide, and one where the burden falls hardest where doctors are scarce. Untreated, it can damage hearing permanently.
That is the argument behind the device, and it is the reason this project reads as engineering aimed at a problem rather than as a science fair exercise. A cheap wearable that can identify and treat an infection at home is a plausible public health tool if it works at scale, which is a separate question from winning a competition.
Where Leanne Fan is now
The record here covers her win in October 2022, when she was at a high school in the Poway Unified School District in San Diego. Nothing after that is documented in these sources: no clinical testing, no patent, no company and no university.
This page does not speculate about what happened to Finsen Headphones. A prototype that wins a national prize is at the beginning of a long regulatory road, and none of the steps along it are recorded here. A medical device intended for children has to clear testing, approval and manufacturing before it reaches anyone, and the gap between a working prototype and a product is measured in years rather than months.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: the title of America's Top Young Scientist at 14 in October 2022; the $25,000 prize; the device, Finsen Headphones, using machine learning to detect and blue light to treat middle ear infections; her home in San Diego, California; and her school district.
Not documented here: her date of birth, any clinical trial or regulatory step, any patent or commercial development, and anything at all after 2022. The birth year on this page is derived from her reported age of 14 at the time of the award.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leanne Fan | United States | Finsen Headphones, detecting and treating middle ear infections | Age 14 |
| Ashton Cofer | United States | A heat treatment for used Styrofoam | Age 14 |
| Valerio Pagliarino | Italy | LaserWAN, laser-based broadband internet links | Age 16 |
| Naisargik Lenka | India | Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019, innovation category | Age 17 |
| Jeremiah Thoronka | Sierra Leone | Optim Energy, which turns road vibration into electricity | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Named America's Top Young Scientist at 14 in October 2022
- Won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and its $25,000 prize
- Invention: Finsen Headphones, using AI for detection and blue light for treatment of middle ear infections
- From San Diego, California; high school in the Poway Unified School District
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is derived from her reported age
- No clinical testing, patent or commercial development is documented
- Nothing after 2022 appears in these sources
Questions people ask about Leanne Fan
What did Leanne Fan invent?
Finsen Headphones, a device that uses machine learning to detect middle ear infections and blue light to treat them.
How old was she when she won?
14, in October 2022. No date of birth appears in these sources.
What did she win?
The title of America's Top Young Scientist in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, and $25,000.
Where is she from?
San Diego, California, where she attended a high school in the Poway Unified School District.
Are the headphones available to buy?
No commercial product, patent or clinical trial is documented in the sources used here.
Why are they called Finsen Headphones?
The name refers to the medical use of light, the field in which Niels Ryberg Finsen won a Nobel Prize.
Where is Leanne Fan now?
Nothing after 2022 is documented in these sources.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Leanne’s story?
What do Finsen Headphones treat?
What do they use for treatment?
How much was the prize?
Sources
- 14-Year-old from California Named America's Top Young Scientist — Discovery Education, 2022-10-19
- Students | Young Scientist Lab (past winners) — 3M Young Scientist Challenge
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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