Head Simulator with Acoustic Measurement Capabilities********

听力损失是加拿大第三大最常见的慢性残疾，大约10%的加拿大人患有某种形式的听力损失。 准确评估听力损失和适当的康复对于确保听力受损听众的良好生活质量至关重要。 听力学家是主要的听力保健提供者，在听力学学生中灌输听力评估和辅助听力设备安装的临床技能是至关重要的。AHead Simulations是一家医疗技术初创公司，旨在增加听力学的培训机会，以改善临床结果。他们的第一个产品，加拿大听力学研究和学习模拟器（CARL），是一个定制的3D打印头部，带有硅胶耳朵和安装在头部内部的摄像头模块，可以提供耳道内任何物体定位的实时反馈。 有了这个逼真的头部模拟器，学员有能力在模拟患者上练习他们的耳内临床程序，然后再在其他学生或诊所的患者上练习。该项目旨在为AHead Simulations的头部模拟器提供声学信号采集，分析和解释功能。 将构建带有内置信号调节和声学数据采集的定制双侧麦克风组件，并将其嵌入头部模拟器中。将开发实时声学信号检测和频谱分析，以验证双侧助听器。 将创建并确认用于纯音测听的患者反应模拟器。 增强后的CARL将通过AHead Simulations提高市场渗透率，并通过培训具有高临床水平的下一代听力学家间接帮助听障加拿大人。

Hearing loss ranks as the third most prevalent chronic disability in Canada, with approximately 10% of Canadians affected by some form of hearing loss. Accurate assessment of hearing loss and appropriate rehabilitation are crucial for ensuring good quality of life for hearing impaired listeners. Audiologists are primary hearing health care providers and imbuing clinical skills for hearing assessment and assistive hearing device fitting in Audiology students is paramount.****AHead Simulations is a medical technology startup aimed to increase training opportunities within Audiology to improve clinical outcomes. Their first product, the Canadian Audiology simulator for Research and Learning (CARL), is a custom 3D printed head with silicone ears and a camera module mounted inside the head to provide real-time feedback of any object's positioning inside the ear canal. With this realistic head simulator, trainees have the ability to practice their in-ear clinical procedures on a simulated patient before practicing on other students, or on patients in a clinic.****This project aims to provide acoustic signal acquisition, analysis, and interpretation capabilities to the head simulator from AHead Simulations. Custom bilateral microphone assembly with built-in signal conditioning and acoustic data acquisition will be constructed and embedded into the head simulator. Realtime acoustic signal detection and spectrum analysis will be developed to enable verification of bilateral hearing aids. A patient response simulator for pure tone audiometry will be created and validated. The enhanced CARL will increase market penetration by AHead Simulations and indirectly help hearing impaired Canadians through training next generation Audiologists of high clinical calibre.**