Understanding Speech with Cochlear Implant Improves with Audigence

Editor: This new product is getting quite of bit of play in the hearing loss literature. I'm not sure at this point if it's really a revolutionary new way to program a cochlear implant or not. I guess time will tell. Here's the information.

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October 2008

Lee Krause is totally and profoundly deaf. Yet he can hear every word you say.

Krause's hearing ability is partly the result of a Cochlear implant that was surgically attached to his skull six years ago.

But it's mostly the result of innovative computer technology he pioneered, to improve and customize the way hearing devices such as Cochlear implants and digital hearing aids are tuned for the individual patient.

"When my Cochlear implant was first turned on, I could hear my nails click and I couldn't believe your nails could be that loud when you clicked them. And you could hear paper crumble real well," Krause said.

"But human speech wasn't quite as clear. And talking on the telephone still was problematic."

After applying his patented technology to better tune his device, a whole new world of hearing opened up to him, said Krause, who is CEO of Melbourne-based Audigence Inc., a software engineering firm dedicated to improving the quality of life for the hearing impaired.

Speaking over the phone with crystal clear voice inflections, it's impossible to tell this engineer-turned-entrepreneur ever was severely hearing impaired, and would be again without the Cochlear implant he received at the University of Florida Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, Fla.

Krause lost his hearing in his late 20s, the result of a genetic condition.

"We have the potential to improve the quality of life for millions of people," Krause said.

The key, he said, is being able to understand speech, and maximizing that understanding for each individual patient. And that's what Krause's technology addresses - customizing and fine-tuning the hearing device to maximize understanding.

"For every patient, there's a different 'best,' and that's an extremely difficult problem to solve," Krause said.

Cochlear implants differ from standard hearing aids, which simply amplify sound. Instead, the implant takes sound and turns it into an electrical signal that is transmitted to a nerve inside the brain. The brain interprets that signal as sound.

Lee Krause, CEO of Melbourne-based Audigence Inc., a software engineering firm dedicated to improving the quality of life for the hearing impaired.

The tiny device that processes the signal then can be tuned through a test involving beeps and sounds transmitted in a soundproof booth. However, the process is laborious and inconsistent in its results. It could take months of adjustments to complete.

As Krause went through this tuning procedure, he found he was not completely satisfied with the results. Something wasn't right. He still couldn't hear well on the telephone. And he still was missing chunks of conversation.

"Through this whole process, I kept telling everyone there had to be a better way of doing this," Krause said.

As his own journey to better hearing continued, he reviewed research papers and assembled a team of engineers and specialists to vigorously address what could be done to improve the tuning process.

The result was a joint U.S. patent with the University of Florida for his idea, and the birth of his new company, Audigence Inc. He gives much credit to his co-inventors, including Dr. Alice Holmes, Dr. Rahul Shrivastav and Dr. Pervis Bedenbaugh of the University of Florida.

"This was very personal to me," Krause said. "The improved tuning ultimately changed my life -- being able to go from not being able to talk on the phone to being able to talk on the phone, an essential skill in today's world."

With Audigence technology, audiologists can tune patients' devices so they can better understand speech, which is much more complicated than almost every other type of sound.

The Audiologist performs the test with a simple laptop computer and microphone. The patient is presented with nonsense words - as opposed to mechanical beeps and sounds -- then are asked to repeat what they heard. The computer system then analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the patient's responses. The process is repeated until an optimized state is reached.

"It's no longer an antiquated 'Can you hear the beep or not?' system," Krause said. "You don't speak in beeps, so why be tuned to beeps?"

Audigence technology now is being clinically tested at the University of Florida and is nearing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "The whole thing could be in reach of the general public within two years," Krause said.

Turning an innovative use of technology into a successful business has been a challenge for Krause, but one made easier with the help of the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) of Florida.

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About Audigence Inc.

--- Founded: 2007

--- Location: 1050 W. NASA Blvd., Suite 154, Melbourne

--- Contact: 952-2455, www.audigenceinc.com

--- Product: Developed software called Clarujust that assesses and optimizes the performance of an individual's digital hearing device, such as a cochlear implant or a digital hearing aid, without modifying the existing hardware. The service can be delivered remotely over the Web so patients can be tested in any environment that is equipped with Internet access, a personal computer and a microphone.

--- Why it's unique: According to Audigence, digital hearing devices currently are tuned using a series of tones. Clarujust uses speech to permit user-specific tuning and adjustments based on speech, not tones. The software will allow digital hearing devices to more accurately meet the needs of users.

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