Student Design Projects to Aid Hearing Impaired at The University of Texas at Dallas

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本提案的目的是在德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校实施一个高度集中的项目，使在电气工程系（EE）注册的高级设计项目的老年人与来自Callier交流障碍中心的临床合作者合作，探索改善听力障碍者的接触、融合和生活质量的新思路。位于达拉斯的德克萨斯大学卡利尔交流障碍中心是一个多领域的大学机构，包含大量的跨学科项目。这项工作将结合独特的资源、人员和美国国立卫生研究院在电气工程系和Callier工程中心资助的项目，以了解听力障碍人士的基础、治疗和技术。本设计计划的目标是鼓励高级工程专业学生与听力学专业学生、听力受损人士和研究人员合作，确定辅助技术需求，并共同设计新的或改进现有的辅助设备和技术。大多数设计项目将基于工程专业学生和听力受损人士在卡利尔学院和工程学院的监督下的互动来确定。一些设计项目将致力于改善正在进行的临床工作，并支持听力学家的培训。在设计序列的最后，工程学生将体验到评估听力和听觉处理障碍的最复杂的技术，并通过完成辅助听力技术或设备项目获得减少听力损失引起的语音识别缺陷的先进技术的经验。更广泛的影响每年将有五个高级设计项目提供给电气工程专业的学生。我们将包括来自Callier交流障碍中心的教师和博士生作为项目团队的临床顾问。本课程的学生将被要求参加每月一次的关于医学研究和医疗器械监管过程中的伦理学的研讨会。潜在的项目包括基于蓝牙/Wi-Fi的辅助听力系统、人工耳蜗免提蓝牙接口、便携式软件定义的人工耳蜗处理器、助听器用户自测系统、便携式数字播放器上的听觉训练软件、听觉刺激皮层听觉诱发电位（CAEP）记录器以及部署在人工耳蜗中的实时信号处理系统。创新的学生设计将在工程教育会议上展示，并发表在工程教育或康复工程期刊上。完成该项目后，学生将获得宝贵的研究/开发经验，为他们继续在听力障碍或任何其他残疾相关领域进行更深入的研究做好准备。该计划旨在培养能够在辅助技术方面追求下一代研究挑战的工程师，这些技术将以前所未有的方式改善听力受损听众的生活质量，而且还将改善其他残疾人的生活质量。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0932542TorlakThe aim of this proposal is to implement a highly focused program at The University of Texas at Dallas that enables seniors enrolled in senior design projects in the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) to partner with clinical collaborators from The Callier Center for Communication Disorders and explore new ideas for improving access, integration and quality of life for persons with hearing disabilities. The Callier Center for Communication Disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas is a multifaceted, university based institution containing a large number of interdisciplinary programs. This effort will combine a unique blend of resources, personnel, and NIH-sponsored projects in The Department of Electrical Engineering and Callier Center for engineering seniors to understand the bases, treatments, and technology for persons with hearing impairments.Intellectual MeritThe objective of the proposed design program is to encourage collaboration for senior engineering students with Audiology students, persons with impaired hearing, and research faculty to identify assistive technology needs and to collectively design new or improve upon existing assistive devices and technology. Most design projects will be identified based on the interaction between the engineering students and persons with impaired hearing under the supervision of Callier faculty and engineering faculty. Some design projects will be dedicated to improve ongoing clinical efforts and to support the training of audiologists. At the conclusion of the design sequence the engineering students will have experienced the most sophisticated techniques for evaluating hearing and auditory processing disorders and gained experience with advanced technology for reducing speech recognition deficits caused by hearing loss through completing an assistive hearing technology or equipment project.Broader ImpactsEvery year five senior design projects will be offered to Electrical Engineering students. We will include faculty and doctoral students from The Callier Center for Communication Disorders as clinical advisors on project teams. The students in this program will be asked to attend monthly seminars about ethics in medical research and regulatory process of medical devices. Potential projects include Bluetooth/Wi-Fi based assistive listening systems, hands-free Bluetooth interface for cochlear implants, portable software-defined cochlear implant processors, self-test system for hearing aid users, auditory training software on portable digital players, cortical auditory evoke potential (CAEP) recorder to auditory stimuli, and real-time signal processing system deployed in cochlear implants. Innovative student designs will be presented at engineering education conferences and published in engineering education or rehabilitation engineering journals. Upon completion of the project, students will have gained valuable experience in conducting research/development that will prepare them to continue on to more in-depth research opportunities in fields related to hearing impairments, or any other disability. The proposed program aims at producing engineers who will be able to pursue the next generation of research challenges in assistive technologies that will improve the quality of life of not only hearing impaired listeners, but of those with other disabilities in ways never before imagined.