Continuous Uninterrupted Respirations with Laryngoscopy Mask; Rebuilding Trust in Medical Research

The primary aim of this technical project was to improve the safety and efficiency of airway management through continuous ventilation during laryngoscopy, and the device’s design process cannot be meaningfully separated from the broader sociotechnical systems in which it will be deployed. Medical technologies are not neutral instruments; they are embedded within power-laden infrastructures that have historically marginalized Black and Brown communities, often reducing them to passive subjects of care rather than active participants in research and innovation. As highlighted in the associated sociotechnical analysis, legacies of medical exploitation have left lasting scars that continue to shape community perceptions of biomedical research and care delivery. Actor Network Theory (ANT) reveals how institutional actors, including researchers, funders, regulators, and device manufacturers, wield disproportionate power in shaping medical systems, often leaving community stakeholders with only token influence over decisions that affect their health outcomes. The development of this laryngoscopy mask sets the stage for an examination of what an engineering process can resemble when marginalized communities are centered, and allows for an investigation into whether participatory design processes, when expanded to include patients and marginalized communities, can help reconfigure power dynamics in medical innovation.