Project 39277 Covid

**公开描述**职业性听力损失是工业化国家最普遍的职业病，高达24%的听力损害归因于职业性噪声。这是一项全球性挑战，具有重大的经济、社会和生理影响，导致数百万人出现可预防的疾病。在美国，有超过1000万的工人因工作时暴露在过大的噪音中而遭受听力损失的影响，英国有110万工人暴露在超过85分贝的噪音中，因此有听力损伤的风险。尽管这种情况普遍存在，但近几十年来保护设备的技术进步受到严重限制，未能跟上用户的要求。被动式护耳器（耳塞/手套）仍然是提供固定级别保护的主流，但未能解决关键的用户挑战，例如干扰用户的工作交流，用户通常需要移除听力保护进行交流，无意中使自己暴露在破坏性噪音中。产品滥用（研究表明，高达40%的工人因耳塞安装不当而没有得到充分保护），使用过程中对周围环境的认识有限（听不到安全/警告信号）。Eartex是一家总部位于伦敦的中小企业，旨在通过开发第一款耳护耳机（EAVE）来解决这些挑战，该耳机独特地将实时监测和报告噪音暴露，个性化听力保护和无线通信的能力结合到单个产品中，并且成本低廉，可以大规模部署。通过与BAM Nuttall的合作，该方法提供：1\。一种无线网状网络耳机，用于动态群体通信，自编程给用户和改变环境噪声水平2\。设备内置实时健康检查和听力测试，以指示产品滥用3\。实时绘制噪音暴露和个性化报告，包括“风险意识警报”，自动识别正常工作环境中的声音变化，既保护工程又识别维护问题/资产完整性。在Innovate UK的支持下，需要一个为期21个月的研究项目，以在试点研究中交付最终用户验证的原型。如果成功，这种组合功能有可能真正颠覆可听设备市场，作为工业4.0产品，在医疗保健和消费市场具有更大的潜力。纳税人对该项目每投入1英镑，Eartex预计在运营的前5年内将获得10.90英镑的回报。

**Public description**Occupational hearing loss is the most prevalent occupational disease in industrialised countries with up to 24% of hearing impairment attributed to occupational noise. It is a Global challenge with significant economic social and physiological impacts that result in preventable ill health for millions of people. In the US over 10 million workers suffer from the effects of hearing loss due to excessive noise exposures on the job with \\\>1.1M UK workers exposed to noise above 85dB and therefore at risk of hearing damage.Despite this prevalence, technological advancement in protection equipment in recent decades has been severely limited, failing to keep pace with user requirements. Passive ear defenders (plugs/muffs) remain the mainstay providing a fixed level of protection but failing to address key user challenges such as interference with on-the-job communication with users often required to remove hearing protection to communicate -- inadvertently exposing themselves to damaging noise, product misuse (studies indicating that up to 40% of workers are inadequately protected by earplugs through poor fitting) with limited awareness of the surrounding environment during use (audibility of safety/warning signals).Eartex, a London based SME, seeks to address these challenges through the development of the first ear defender headset (EAVE) that uniquely combines the capability of real-time monitoring and reporting of noise exposure, personalised hearing protection and wireless communication into a single product and at a cost to enable mass deployment.Through the collaboration with BAM Nuttall the approach offers: 1\. A wireless mesh network headset for dynamic group communication, self-programmable to the user and changing environment noise levels 2\. Real-time Fit Check and hearing test built in to the device to indicate product misuses 3\. Real-time mapping of noise exposure and personalised reporting to include 'risk awareness alerts' that automatically identify changes in sound from a normal working environment, both protecting works and identifying maintenance issues/asset integrity.With support through Innovate UK a 21-month programme of research is required to deliver a prototype validated by end-users in a pilot study. If successful this combined functionality has the potential to truly disrupt the hearables market with global exploitation potential as an Industry 4.0 product with wider potential in Healthcare and Consumer markets. For every £1 invested by taxpayers for this project, Eartex are forecast to return £10.90 within the first 5 years of operation.