SBIR Phase II: Air-coupled MEMS-based Ultrasound Transducer for Assessment of Tympanic Membrane Motion

SBIR 第二阶段：基于空气耦合 MEMS 的超声换能器，用于评估鼓膜运动

• 批准号: 1853244
• 负责人: Mark Moehring
• 金额: $ 71.81万
• 依托单位: OtoNexus Medical Technologies, Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-03-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1853244&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Air; coupled

This SBIR Phase II project will enable the development of the first known commercial medical ultrasound device utilizing air-coupled Capacitive Micromachine Ultrasound Transducer (CMUT) technology to diagnose otitis media. Otitis media is the number one indication for which antibiotics are prescribed for children, and the number one cause for surgery in childhood, costing $15+B annually in the US and resulting in 30M annual doctor visits in the US alone. Clinical studies show a diagnostic error rate averaging 50%. Today's tools are unable to accurately determine the presence, and much less the type, of effusion in the middle ear. This leads to significant over- prescription of antibiotics, over-referrals to specialists, and unnecessary surgeries. OtoNexus Medical Technologies, Inc. is developing a simple and sensitive medical device to provide diagnostic data to quickly and accurately diagnose both presence and type of otitis media.The work of this project will establish fast and economical assessment of CMUT sensor manufacturing performance, by electrical and acoustic measurements. OtoNexus will design and construct test systems to rapidly evaluate electrical and acoustical performance of CMUT sensors as an assessment of production quality. The Electrical Vector Impedance (EVI) test fixture provides an electrical surrogate measure for acoustic output, which can be performed rapidly at the wafer-level with 100% sampling. The Acoustic Output Measure (AOM) test fixture evaluates the pressure emitted by CMUT, and other acoustic performance parameters, after speculum final assembly. This project will develop test fixtures, methods, and processes for assessing production reliability and process consistency. The OtoNexus ultrasound device will be marketed to pediatricians and other primary care physicians, and will decrease prognostic uncertainty and resultant over-prescription of antibiotics, and place the tools for more accurate diagnosis into the hands of the very first clinician the patient sees. This will reduce costs by decreasing both antibiotic usage and specialist referrals and will also decrease required physician time by enabling a nurse or other physician extender to perform the test for otitis media.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个SBIR II期项目将利用空气偶联的Micromachine超声传感器（CMUT）技术来开发首个已知的商业医疗超声设备，以诊断中耳炎。中耳炎是针对儿童开处方的抗生素的第一指示，是童年时期手术的第一名，每年在美国每年耗资15美元+B，仅在美国就可以进行3000万的年度医生就诊。临床研究表明，诊断错误率平均为50％。当今的工具无法准确确定中耳中积液的存在，而少得多。这导致了抗生素的大量过度处方，对专家的过度转养以及不必要的手术。 Otonexus Medical Technologies，Inc。正在开发一种简单而敏感的医疗设备，以提供诊断数据，以快速而准确地诊断耳炎培养基的存在和类型。该项目的工作将通过电气和声学测量值来快速，经济地评估CMUT传感器制造性能。 Otonexus将设计和构建测试系统，以快速评估CMUT传感器的电气和声学性能，以评估生产质量。电气阻抗（EVI）测试固定装置为声学输出提供了电替代措施，可以在100％采样的情况下以晶圆级迅速执行。声音输出度量（AOM）测试夹具在窥镜最终组装后评估CMUT发出的压力和其他声学性能参数。该项目将开发用于评估生产可靠性和过程一致性的测试固定装置，方法和过程。 Otonexus超声设备将向儿科医生和其他初级保健医生销售，并将降低预后不确定性，并导致对抗生素的过度处方，并将更准确诊断的工具放在患者所见的第一家临床医生的手中。这将通过降低抗生素使用和专家推荐来降低成本，还将通过启用护士或其他医生扩展器来降低所需的医师时间来执行耳炎媒介测试。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为值得进行的支持。