A WIRELESS SELF-CONTAINED TACTILE AID

项目描述（由申请人提供）：项目摘要/摘要：这项工作旨在为聋人开发一种触觉辅助设备，该设备完全包含在一个小单元中，可以像手表一样佩戴在手臂上。这种助听器的两种型号最终将被开发出来。第一个，也是提议的努力的主要动机，是一个单元，可以在等待人工耳蜗植入的婴儿和幼儿期间提供触觉刺激。该装置将是一个小型的单振动器装置，在设计时特别注意了该人群的安全和使用要求。第二种型号将是一个成人单元，将比儿童单元稍大，并将包含额外的无线接收器功能，用于显示远程事件（例如门铃、烟雾报警器）的警报信号，并通过远程麦克风传输语音。第一阶段的工作将完全侧重于发展儿童单元，尽管大部分工作也将适用于成人单元。在第一阶段结束时开发的原型将进行振动触觉性能、安全性、坚固性、水密性和电池寿命的测试。在第二阶段，将建造足够数量的儿童单元以进行现场试验，而成人单元的设计将完成，原型和测试。将触觉辅助设备的组件集成在一个小的手腕上，将消除连接电子设备和当前触觉辅助设备振动器的电线。这种改进虽然面临着反馈、电池寿命和尺寸方面的挑战，但它将使触觉辅助设备比现在更容易使用。儿童版本将在接受人工耳蜗植入之前的早期发展阶段为年幼的失聪儿童提供声音意识。成人版将为那些不使用人工耳蜗的口头聋人提供语言阅读帮助。对于这一群体，以及非口头聋人，拟议的援助将提供环境声音意识和信号警报功能，在一个方便的包。公共相关性：这项工作与公共卫生有关，因为由此产生的产品将加强语音和语言交流以及对环境声音的认识，并适用于从未植入人工耳蜗的儿童到不适合或不希望植入人工耳蜗的个人等广泛情况下的聋人和听力受损人群。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary/Abstract: This work is aimed at the development of a tactile aid for the deaf contained entirely in a single small unit that can be worn on an arm like a wristwatch. 2 models of such a tactile aid will eventually be developed. The first, which is the primary motivation for the proposed effort, is a unit that would provide tactile stimulation for infants and young children during the time period when they are awaiting a cochlear implant. This unit will be a small single-vibrator device designed with special attention given to the safety and usage requirements for this population. A second model will be an adult unit that will be slightly larger than the children's unit and will contain additional wireless receiver functionality for displaying alarms signaling remote events (e.g., doorbell, smoke alarm) and for delivering speech sensed by a remote microphone. The Phase I work will focus entirely on developing the children's unit, although much of the work will apply to the adult unit as well. Prototypes developed by the end of Phase I will be tested for vibrotactile performance, safety, ruggedness, water-tightness, and battery life. During Phase II, the children's unit will be constructed in sufficient numbers to enable field trials, and the adult unit design will be completed, prototyped, and tested. Integration of the tactile aid's components in a small wrist-worn package will eliminate the wires that connect the electronics to the vibrators of current tactile aids. This improvement, which faces challenges from feedback, battery life, and size, will make tactile aids much easier to use than they currently are. The children's version will provide awareness of sound to young deaf children during the early stages of development before they receive cochlear implants. The adult version will provide speech-reading assistance for those oral deaf communicators who do not use a cochlear implant. For this group, as well as for the non-oral deaf, the proposed aid will provide environmental sound awareness and signal alerting functions in a convenient package. Public Relevance: This work is relevant to public health because the resulting product will enhance speech and language communication and awareness of environmental sounds, and is applicable to the large community of deaf and hearing impaired individuals under a broad range of circumstances, from pre-implant children to individuals for whom cochlear implants are not suitable or desirable.