Computer system for development of a neural compensator based hearing aid

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A McMaster team of researchers led by Prof. Sue Becker, Dept. of Psychology Neuroscience & Behavior, in collaboration with Profs. Haykin and Bruce in ECE, and graduate students Jeff Bondy and Zhe Chen, developed a novel algorithm for hearing compensation called the NeuroCompensator. Based on an entirely new idea, the design goal of the NeuroCompensator is to use machine learning methods and accurate biological models of the normal and impaired ear to create a hearing aid that will restore near-to-normal neuronal activity in the auditory system of the hearing impaired person. The Neurocompensator and other algorithms have been patented by the McMaster team. The US NeuroCompensator patent was issued on Dec. 12, 2006 under patent no. 7,149,320. This patent is assigned to McMaster University and licensed to CAYCe Medical Inc. on August 3rd 2006. CAYCe Medical Inc. holds an exclusive worldwide license to commercialize this technology.  Translation of the technology into a commercial product requires the following steps: 1) integration with standard hearing aid signal preprocessing steps such as loudness compression; 2) developing a broad training set of speech and other sound samples; 3) evaluate whether one or more NeuroCompensators are required to fit the training set; 4) train several different versions of the NeuroCompensator on different hearing loss profiles; and 5) implementation on a low-power hearing-aid microprocessor. An audiologist would receive the final set of pre-trained NeuroCompensator parameters on a CD, together with the training software and audio training samples. The process of fitting an individual for a NeuroCompensator-based hearing aid would simply involve selecting the NeuroCompensator most closely matched to the person's audiogram, optionally running the software to fine-tune the parameters, and loading the final NeuroCompensator parameters onto the hearing aid. Funded by a market readiness grant from the OCE, Becker is now working with CAYCe Medical to complete the research and development of the NeuroCompensator and commercialize this technology. OCE is providing the salary support, while the NSERC RTI grant is requested to purchase the necessary equipment for this work.