Development of a Hearing Health Monitoring Earplug for the Individual Assessment of a Human's Susceptibility to Develop Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

开发听力健康监测耳塞，用于个体评估人类对噪声性听力损失的易感性

• 批准号: 402126-2012
• 负责人: Voix, Jeremie
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: École de technologie supérieure
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=573168
• 关键词: Development; Hearing; Health; Monitoring; Earplug

The ongoing highly productive research collaboration between ÉTS and Sonomax Technologies has transformed best-practices in industrial hearing conservation. This new proposal, focused on hearing health monitoring, if successful, could generate ideas that will propel this partnership even further. A. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROGRAM Hearing Protection Devices (HPD) are used to protect most of the 30 million noised-exposed North-American workers against noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). The objective of the proposed research program is to develop an HPD able to comfortably protect the worker and to continuously measure both the actual noise dose received and the induced auditory fatigue, taking into account the worker's own susceptibility to develop NIHL. B. TECHNOLOGICAL & SCIENTIFIC APPROACH To achieve these goals, two preliminary technologies will be developed: 1) A "dosimetric earplug" capable of monitoring the noise dose and warning both the user and his supervisor when the daily dose is about to be reached. 2) An "Otoacoustic Emissions monitoring earplug" that monitors cochlear responses and that could detect, for a given user, slight drifts in hearing levels much sooner than classical audiometric methods. The core scientific research is to study in real-time the relationship between noise exposure and auditory damage by combining the features of the two aforementioned devices. C. NOVELTY, SIGNIFICANCE AND EXPECTED BENEFITS This proposed research program will lead to the development of a very unique hearing-health monitoring HPD. From a scientific point of view, the proposed research program will contribute to improve fundamental knowledge of basic properties of the human auditory system, such as the individual auditory fatigue recovery rate or the individual "true" silence level below which the cochlea no longer accumulates doses.

ÉTS和Sonomax Technologies之间正在进行的高效研究合作已经改变了工业听力保护的最佳实践。这项新的提案，重点是听力健康监测，如果成功的话，可能会产生进一步推动这种伙伴关系的想法。 A.拟议研究的证据 听力保护装置（HPD）用于保护3000万噪声暴露的北美工人中的大多数免受噪声引起的听力损失（NIHL）。拟议的研究计划的目的是开发一个HPD能够舒适地保护工人，并不断测量实际收到的噪声剂量和诱发的听觉疲劳，同时考虑到工人自己的易感性发展NIHL。 B。逻辑和科学方法 为了实现这些目标，将开发两种初步技术： 1)一种“剂量耳塞”，能够监测噪声剂量，并在即将达到每日剂量时警告用户及其主管。 2)一种“耳声发射监测耳塞”，它监测耳蜗反应，并且可以比传统的听力测定方法更快地检测到给定用户的听力水平的轻微漂移。 核心科学研究是结合上述两种设备的特点，实时研究噪声暴露与听觉损伤之间的关系。 C.新奇、意义和预期益处 这项拟议的研究计划将导致一个非常独特的听力健康监测HPD的发展。从科学的角度来看，拟议的研究计划将有助于提高人类听觉系统基本特性的基础知识，例如个人听觉疲劳恢复率或个人“真正”的沉默水平，低于该水平耳蜗不再积累剂量。