SBIR-STTR Award

This project continues the research, development, and evaluation associated with a wearable, high-resolution, microprocessor-based tactile sensory aid for the deaf and deaf /blind. Objectives include the completion of six prototype units suitable for field testing at collaborating centers serving the deaf. Under Phase 1, speech discrimination studies were conducted, showing that a 16-channel aid, with appropriately designed acoustic characteristics, could be effective in communicating essential speech features, in improving the accuracy of lipreading, in promoting auditory environmental awareness, and in facilitating speech therapy. A follow-on funding commitment has been obtained from a non-Federal source, and additional capital will be provided if the field tests of the proposed prototypes are positive. This research is part of an ongoing program to develop a commercially feasible speech communication and training aid for profoundly deaf persons who cannot understand speech through conventional amplification hearing aids. If successful, this approach will provide a nonsurgical alternative to persons for whom cochlear implant prostheses are not appropriate.National Institute On Aging

This proposal addresses the evaluation of a wearable, high-resolution microprocessor-based tactile sensory aid for the deaf and deaf-blind, as specified in the PHS Omnibus Solicitation, NINCDS, Communicative Disorders Program. Using a published battery of minimal auditory capabilities (the MAC test), the proposed research will assess the effectiveness of a newly completed, laboratory prototype of a wearable sensory aid, as compared with a non-wearable version which is currently undergoing evaluation in classrooms for the deaf and other research settings. The new laboratory prototype differs from the earlier version in the following respects: it is fully wearable and portable, its bandpass filter characteristics provide sharper discrimination of acoustic speech characteristics, and the allocation of channels has been optimized in terms of relevant speech information. This research is part of an ongoing program to develop a commercially feasible speech communication and speech training aid for profoundly deaf persons who cannot understand speech through conventional amplification hearing aids. If successful this approach will provide a non-surgicial alternative to those persons for whom cochlear implant procedures are not appropriate.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical engineering, instrumentation clinically oriented, ear disorders, aids for the deaf, eye disorders, aids for the blind, information-communication disorders, aids, electrotactile communication electrodes, electronic stimulators (general), information-communication disorders, speech therapy, sensory-perceptual processes, signal detection ear disorders diagnosis (incl exams), human subjects, volunteers, human, clinical