Key takeaways
- Medical device testing increasingly needs to go beyond lab usability studies to understand how devices fit into patients' real routines and environments.
- Indeemo's video-based research platform captures authentic in-the-moment insight from patients, audiologists, or clinicians using devices in their own context.
- Common applications include human factors and usability studies, compliance and adherence monitoring, comparative testing, and patient experience feedback.
- In a real-world study, a hearing aid manufacturer used Indeemo to capture 1,300+ insights from 100 audiologists across six markets and four continents, informing product development and training.
- With Indeemo, medical device manufacturers can recruit the right participants, capture rich multimedia feedback, and analyse submissions with generative AI with enterprise-grade security for sensitive research.
Why real-world testing matters for medical devices
In the highly regulated, innovation-driven medical device industry, usability, reliability, and patient satisfaction matter enormously. For manufacturers, understanding real-world usage is critical, but traditional lab testing often falls short. Indeemo's video research platform helps bridge the gap between clinical trials and everyday use, by capturing authentic user insight in real-world environments.
Medical device testing goes beyond performance metrics. It's about understanding how products integrate into patients' lives. Terms like "human factors testing" and "usability studies" describe this process, focusing on how intuitive, safe, and effective a device is when used as intended. Video-based qualitative research adds a fresh perspective, capturing the nuances of real-life usage.
While In-Home Usage Testing (iHUT) is widely known for consumer goods, the principles align closely with medical device testing. Both methodologies emphasise gathering insight in natural settings, letting manufacturers see how products perform outside controlled environments. For medical devices, that means identifying user challenges, adherence issues, and opportunities for improvement.
What are the main applications of Indeemo in medical device testing?
Four applications stand out.
Human factors and usability studies
Evaluate how intuitive and safe devices are to use in everyday scenarios. Visual diary studies let researchers observe users' interactions with devices in real-world environments, providing actionable insight into potential usability issues. That helps manufacturers prioritise design improvements that enhance both safety and usability.
Compliance and adherence monitoring
Understand how patients integrate devices into their routines, and identify barriers to consistent usage. Indeemo's real-time feedback features let researchers track adherence trends and proactively address non-compliance. By identifying patterns, researchers can recommend targeted interventions to improve patient outcomes.
Comparative testing
Compare the performance of a new device against existing solutions to understand competitive advantages. Indeemo supports side-by-side user reviews through structured prompts, allowing a detailed comparison of functionality and user preference. That gives stakeholders data to support positioning decisions for a new product.
Patient experience feedback
Capture authentic feedback on comfort, usability, and satisfaction to refine products and enhance outcomes. Indeemo's multi-language transcription and analysis make sure diverse patient voices are heard in product development, supporting the creation of inclusive designs that work for a wide range of users.
Why is Indeemo valuable for patient feedback?
Gathering patient feedback is essential for understanding the true impact of medical devices on users' lives. Indeemo's platform captures rich qualitative insight directly from patients, offering close access to their experiences, challenges, and preferences.
Real-time insight
Patients can document their interactions with devices as they occur, using video diaries and response tasks to provide immediate, authentic feedback.
Emotional context
Video captures non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and body language, adding a layer of emotional context that written responses can't convey.
Unfiltered experience
Manufacturers can observe how patients use devices in their daily routines, identifying pain points and improvement opportunities that formal clinical settings would miss.
Scalable feedback
Indeemo lets manufacturers gather insight from diverse patient populations across multiple markets, ensuring inclusivity and a rounded understanding of user needs.
What impact does this have on medical device development?
The insight captured through video research helps manufacturers:
- Enhance device usability by addressing patient-reported challenges
- Improve training and support materials based on real-world feedback
- Build stronger connections with patients by demonstrating responsiveness to their needs
Why choose Indeemo for medical device testing?
Indeemo's platform is built to capture rich qualitative insight that goes beyond numbers. Four things make it well-suited to medical device testing.
Video-based insight
Collect authentic, real-life feedback from participants using video diaries and task-based documentation — patients, clinicians, or both.
Generative AI analysis
Process and analyse large volumes of qualitative data to uncover patterns and themes, speeding up analysis significantly.
Global reach
Conduct studies with participants from diverse locations in 30+ languages, ensuring inclusivity and varied perspectives across markets.
Mixed-method integration
Combine in-the-moment video insight with other research methods, such as imported Zoom or Teams interviews, for a comprehensive understanding.
Case study: understanding audiologists and patients with Indeemo
The challenge
A hearing aid manufacturer approached Indeemo to explore how audiologists interacted with their devices and software. While patients benefited from the technology, understanding how audiologists prescribed, fitted, and supported the device in real-world settings remained a challenge.
The solution
Indeemo's mobile diary study let audiologists document their daily workflows with photos and videos. The approach delivered:
- Real-world insight. Audiologists captured device usage, software interaction, and patient consultations in real time.
- Global reach. Participation from six markets across four continents, offering diverse perspectives.
- Flexible engagement. Short, task-based activities that allowed participation without disrupting busy clinical schedules.
The outcome
The study gathered over 1,300 insights from 100 audiologists, revealing key pain points and opportunities for improvement. These insights informed product development and enhanced training materials, bridging the gap between clinical trials and real-world use.
How does Indeemo's full workflow support medical device research?
Alongside the case study above, Indeemo supports the end-to-end research workflow for medical device teams:
- Recruit B2C participants, patients, or healthcare professionals from a panel of 3 million+ participants
- Capture in-the-moment videos, photos, screen recordings, and texts in 30+ languages
- Use generative AI for summarisation, translation, thematic analysis, and sentiment analysis to speed up analysis significantly
- Run longitudinal studies across weeks or months to track adherence and adaptation
- Import follow-up interviews from Zoom or Microsoft Teams for deeper probing
- Create subtitled highlight reels to share patient voice with product, regulatory, or leadership teams
- Enterprise-grade security (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA-capable) for sensitive healthcare research
In an industry where precision, reliability, and patient satisfaction are essential, this approach helps medical device manufacturers design products that genuinely work in real patients' lives. Whether you're refining a prototype, preparing for a product launch, or gathering post-market feedback, in-context video research produces the kind of insight that traditional testing alone can't deliver.
Do you need a healthcare research specialist to run medical device studies?
No. Whether you're a medical device team, a pharma research group, or an agency running healthcare studies for a client, Indeemo can support you.
Use the platform independently, or partner with our Catalyst team for study design, recruitment, moderation, and analysis. If you have research ambitions but not the in-house capacity, we can lend a helping hand.
Frequently asked questions
How does Indeemo support regulated medical device research? Indeemo is SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and HIPAA-capable, with enterprise-grade security that meets the standards required for sensitive healthcare research. Our team has supported studies for major medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.
Can Indeemo be used in clinical trials? Indeemo is most commonly used alongside clinical trials gathering real-world usability and adherence data that complements formal trial protocols. For direct use within a regulated clinical trial, local regulatory and GCP considerations apply and should be reviewed with your research team.
How do you protect patient privacy in video research? Through a combination of secure data handling, informed consent, and participant-controlled sharing. Participants choose what to record and upload, data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access is strictly controlled through role-based permissions.
What's the difference between iHUT and medical device testing on Indeemo? The methodology is similar, participants use the product in their own environment and document their experience. Medical device testing adds specific considerations around regulatory requirements, patient safety, adherence monitoring, and clinician involvement. Indeemo's platform supports both, with enterprise security appropriate for healthcare research.
How many participants do you need for a medical device study? It depends on the research question. Early-stage human factors studies often run with 15–30 participants per segment. Comparative testing and longitudinal adherence monitoring can run with 50–100+ participants across multiple markets. The audiologist case study described here involved 100 professionals across six markets.
