The ‘Testicle Bath’ Could be The Answer to Male Contraception

ALBAWABA -  A German inventor's unique ultrasound "testicle bath" birth control device for men took the top prize at the country's James Dyson Awards.

Rebecca Weiss, an industrial design graduate from the University of Munich and inventor of the COSO male birth control device, was given Germany's top award of designers and problem-solving ideas according to UPI.

According to the American news agency the COSO uses an ultrasound "testicle bath" to temporary stop sperm mobility. The device only needs to be used every few months to keep the sperm inert and prevent eggs from being fertilized during sex.

The new “testicle bath” device, and as expected, is making much noise on the media. Newspapers and websites are making such a big deal about it, and being commented on more and more.

Some are hailing it as “revolutionary a testicle bath that zaps sperm with ultrasound waves.” Another says soon you will never be able to live with it because it is the future of male contraception. Another is not so keen, putting it this way. “I’m not of the gender to have testicle but this sounds as appealing as getting said items very stuck in a zipper…ouch!!”

Nevertheless, the Daily Mail has also run a full feature on the “gadget”, can it be called that, maybe not! It tells you exactly how it is used. The device works by men placing their testicles into a small bowl-like gadget, which gets filled with water. It then emits ultrasound waves that limit sperm production and mobility for up to two months. Weiss says the COSO device is painless and reversible and should prevent unwanted pregnancies.

She tells UPI it all started when “after she was diagnosed with precursor cervical cancer, which has been tied to oral contraceptive pills” and "when my partner and I were looking for an alternative method, we became aware of the lack of male contraceptives," Weiss told Dyson Award officials.

Weiss said the lack of male birth control options led her to develop "a new contraceptive approach for men in my master's thesis."

The inventor said she is hoping the Dyson Award will help her obtain funding to put the COSO through clinical trials. As Germany's winner of the Dyson Award, Weiss is now shortlisted for the international award, which carries a $45,000 prize, UPI, adds.

The final.  Condoms and a vasectomy are currently the only two contraceptives for men, while there are 12 tailored to women. Although there's ongoing research into a pill for men, there is not one available yet. Ultrasound — currently used to reduce pain and speed up healing for deep tissue injuries — was first proposed as a contraceptive in the 1970s and is thought to work by generating a deep heat in the testicular tissue. This alters sperm mobility, which prevents them from being able to fertilise a female egg and temporarily suppresses the creation of new sperm the Daily Mail concludes.

The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It's open to current and recent design engineering students, and is run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson’s charitable trust, as part of its mission to get young people excited about design engineering.