~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2005
Editor: Several years ago we reported on the HiSonic hearing aid,
which caused quite a stir at the time. It is an ultrasonic, bone
conduction aid that the manufacturers said could assist people with
sensorineural hearing loss who did not benefit from conventional hearing
aids. It was even suggested as a potential alternative to Cochlear
Implants. (See http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/ha/hisonic.htm)
Then the company and product seemed to just disappear, until now. A
company called Misonix has apparently bought Sonic Innovations (HiSonic
developer) and is working to commercialize the HiSonic product.
Here are portions of the press release.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FARMINGDALE, N.Y., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Misonix, Inc. (Nasdaq:
MSON), a developer of ultrasonic medical device technology for the
treatment of cancer and other healthcare purposes, today announced that
it has contracted Ceres Biotechnology, LLC for services to assist in
brining to market its ultrasonic medical devices for those with severe
hearing impairment. These activities are an important element to
Misonix's strategy for preparing for commercialization the products that
had been in development by Hearing Innovations. As announced earlier
this year and following its reorganization under Chapter 11, Hearing
Innovations, a developmental company with patented HiSonic ultrasonic
technology intended to alleviate profound deafness and tinnitus, became
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Misonix.
Virginia-based Ceres Biotechnology has been contracted for an
indefinite period expected to last approximately 18 months. Deliverables
under the contract include professional consulting services for the
development of technology, software programming, technical and product
development engineering, selection of commercial partners, and the
creation, testing and development of prototypes. As part of the
contract, Ceres Biotechnology will conduct a clinical trail intended to
prove efficacy. Ceres envisions the development of a multifunctional
unit that will incorporate technologies addressing sensory processes
essential for hearing and interpreting sound. The technology also will
enable improved hearing by those less impaired, thus significantly
expanding the addressable market.
[snip]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September
2006
Dr. Manohar
Bance has been looking for sweet spots in the human skull. What he finds
could lead to a major technological breakthrough for people with certain
hearing impairments and spinoffs that could change how you listen to your
IPod or cellphone and even how soldiers communicate on the battlefield.
Boosted by a $2.6-million grant from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency’s Atlantic Innovation Fund, the team he leads has embarked on a
five-year project to change the tools used to channel the vibrations of
sound through the skull to nerves in the inner ear, allowing people to
hear even if they lack critical parts of the ear.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January
2007
Jan.
5 felt like Christmas to Grace Williams. She was sitting in an exam room
at the ENT Clinic of Iowa in West Des Moines when her doctor handed her
a tan box about the size of a postage stamp. It was a new hearing device
that processes sound through a titanium fixture that had been implanted
in the bones of her head . . . . She tried placing the processor into
the fixture behind her ear. She fumbled a couple of times, and her
physician, Dr. Tim Simplot, stepped forward to help. Suddenly, her
hearing had a clarity she had never known. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2008
Profound sensorineural hearing loss in one ear
only, sometimes called single-sided deafness, has numerous causes,
including idiopathic sudden hearing loss and the removal of an acoustic
tumor. Although single-sided deafness has generally been considered a
minor inconvenience when compared to hearing loss in both ears, the
ability to hear in one ear only presents a number of listening
disadvantages. First, when the speaker is on the side of the non-hearing
ear, the amplitude of high-frequency sounds critical for speech perception
and understanding is reduced by as much as 20 dB SPL as they travel
through and around the head to reach the hearing ear. This obstruction of
sounds by the head, called the head-shadow effect, can also impair sound
localization and distance estimation. Second, the loss of hearing in one
ear prevents the perceived doubling of loudness normally experienced
through the binaural summation of sound energy coming into the two ears
simultaneously. Third, the ability to squelch background noises in favor
of foreground speech is lost or diminished, making listening in noise
especially difficult.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2008
Bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) have been used
in the United States since receiving Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approval in l996. BAHA is a registered trademark of Entific Medical
Systems, a Swedish manufacturing company owned by Cochlear Limited. The
bone-anchored aid is a surgically implantable system that works through
direct bone stimulation. According to the Maryland Hearing and Balance
Center, "The baha consists of three parts: a titanium implant, an external
abutment, and a sound processor. The system works by enhancing natural
bone transmission as a pathway for sound to travel to the inner ear,
bypassing the external auditory canal and the middle ear. The titanium
implant is placed during a short surgical procedure and over time
naturally integrates with the skull bone. For hearing, the sound processor
transmits sound vibrations through the external abutment to the titanium
implant. The vibrating implant sets up vibrations with the skull and inner
ear that finally stimulate the nerve fibers of the inner ear, allowing
hearing."
Full Story
