Custom Hearing Instruments by Computer-Aided Design

通过计算机辅助设计定制助听器

• 批准号: 6549324
• 负责人: PING ZHUANG
• 金额: $ 9.44万
• 依托单位: GENEX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-09-01 至 2003-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6549324
• 关键词: computer assisted patient care; computer program /software; digital imaging; hearing aids; hearing disorders; mathematical model; method development; model design /development; video recording system

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): More than 28 million Americans suffer from some type of hearing impairment, according to the statistics from National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD). It is estimated that over 260 million people are hearing impaired worldwide. Fortunately, many of these people can benefit from the use of a hearing aid. However, hearing aids cannot work for everyone. Those who can be helped need to be carefully fitted. Current manufacturing process of custom-fit shells of hearing aids is highly labor-intensive manual process. Each shell has to be made by skilled technicians using manual operations. The quality and consistency of the fitting vary significantly with technician's skill level. A typical process of producing a shell takes about 40 minutes from start to finish. Major drawbacks of manual process include: Shortage of skilled worker and long training time, Product variances - lack of consistency of quality, Slow in production and not scalable for mass production, and High level of remake and return of products. The primary objective of this SBIR effort is to investigate the feasibility of an automatic shell manufacturing (ASM) process for custom-fit hearing aids based on a novel 3D camera technology invented by Genex Technologies, Inc (GENEX). We propose to develop a low-cost high precision 3D camera that is able to acquire the 3D digital models of ear impression and incorporate the customer-specific 3D data into shell design software. The computer-aided-design of the shell is then sent to a rapid prototyping machine to build the custom-made shell directly. Phase 1 project will focus on developing the turnkey, ultra low-cost 3D camera technology, interface with CAD design software, and streamlining the Rapid Prototyping technique for fabricating shell pieces. A prototype of 3D camera system will be demonstrated to acquire ear impression model that can be used to produce customer shell pieces.

描述（由申请人提供）：根据国家耳聋和沟通障碍研究所（NIDCD）的统计数据，超过2800万美国人患有某种类型的听力障碍。据估计，全世界有超过2.6亿人听力受损。幸运的是，这些人中的许多人可以从使用助听器中受益。但是，助听器并不适合所有人。那些可以得到帮助的人需要仔细适应。 目前助听器定制外壳的制造过程是高度劳动密集型的手工过程。每个外壳都必须由熟练的技术人员使用手工操作制作。装配的质量和一致性随技术人员的技能水平而显著变化。生产一个外壳的典型过程从开始到结束大约需要40分钟。手工流程的主要缺点包括：缺乏熟练工人和培训时间长，产品差异-缺乏质量一致性，生产缓慢且无法大规模生产，以及产品的高水平返工和退货。 SBIR的主要目标是研究基于Genex Technologies，Inc（GENEX）发明的新型3D相机技术的定制助听器自动外壳制造（ASM）工艺的可行性。我们建议开发一种低成本高精度的3D相机，能够获取耳印的3D数字模型，并将客户特定的3D数据纳入外壳设计软件。然后将计算机辅助设计的外壳发送到快速成型机以直接构建定制的外壳。第一阶段项目将专注于开发交钥匙，超低成本的3D相机技术，与CAD设计软件的接口，以及简化用于制造壳体件的快速原型技术。将展示3D相机系统的原型，以获取可用于生产客户外壳件的耳模模型。