Development of digital behind-the-ear hearing aid with minimal specifications / Desenvolvimento de prótese auditiva retroauricular, digital e de especificações mínimas

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

The International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS) estimates as 10% the total amount of hearing impaired in United States. The Better Hearing Institute asserts that in United States about 31 million people have hearing losses in some degree, say around 10% of total population. Increasing the amount of hearing-impaired there is a list of causes as presbyacusis, hereditary diseases, metabolic diseases, use of ototoxic drugs, acoustic trauma, noise-induced, neoplasia, infections and vascular damages and idiopathic causes. Amongst of perverse effects of hearing losses are frustration, insecurity, paranoia, tension, nervousness, irritability, instability, fearful, sense of inferiority, sense of confusion, discontentment, social phobia and depression. Children with unilateral hearing loss appear to show high grade failures, demands for additional assistance due to permanent effects of cognition inability, even so when they are affected by mild hearing losses. By means of Audiology perspective all hearing impaired are normal applicant to wear a hearing aid, an electronic device whose chief components - digital signal processing, microphone and receiver - can be acquired from the international manufacturers supply chain, whose rule the world market. These manufacturers push products to market with higher density of technological resources than their competitors in exchange of higher profits, to offer more than the customers need or are willing to pay for. Those international organizations bring products which end prices are unmatched to citizen in the developing countries. One of the objectives of the present study is to understand the business model these organizations run, mainly the most profitable one: retail business. The other objective means the developing the digital behind-the-ear hearing aid with minimal specifications, to compete with those hearing aids, same design, supplied by these organizations to the Brazilian Government for its open tender, according to Government directive 587, section sign IV of Health Minister. It was contacted these organizations supply chain, requested samples and assembled some functional prototypes, whose after some experiments lead us to determine a basic electroelectronic architecture. This architecture was submitted to more experiments until final lvii electroelectronic architecture was determined and it was rested inside a behind-the-ear case. To determine end product technological resources and the electroacoustic specifications to fulfill Health Minister specifications it was managed engineering tools of the main component (digital signal processing), which entails being logon on the manufacturer server, also stand alone on a personal computer, to assemble the electro-electronic and mechanical modules to submit the end product to the same international standard the hearing aids already traded in the Brazilian market place. It was possible the understanding the current business model also to identify the main actors and how they interact each other. The only digital behind-the-ear hearing aid developed complies with all requirements labeled as Technology A and B, respective of 85% of all Brazilian Government acquisitions.

ASSUNTO(S)

hearing loss adaptação perda auditiva digital hearing aid fitting prosthesis and implants prótese auditiva digital políticas públicas public policies próteses e implantes

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