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Medical Design Excellence Awards 2001 June, 2001 The 9 gold and 18 silver award-winning products in the fifth annual MDEA program are each distinguished by their pioneering design and manufacturing achievements. To paraphrase one of this year's jurors, the designers and manufacturers of the products on the following pages sweated the details and paid close attention to industrial design qualities. http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/01/06/002.html An Elegant Solution for the Hearing Impaired Nucleus 24 Contour Submitted and manufactured by Cochlear Ltd. (Sydney, Australia) The Nucleus 24 Contour is a cochlear implant with an electrode array that safely places 22 stimulating electrodes adjacent to the inner wall of the cochlea without the use of invasive bands or positioners. The system is designed to provide useful hearing to people with severe to profound hearing loss.
Prototype Evaluation Offers Key to Prosthesis Development Pathfinder prosthetic foot Submitted and manufactured by Ohio Willow Wood Co. (Mt. Sterling, OH) Among the principal challenges faced by the developers of the Pathfinder prosthetic foot was the need to simulate human gait with natural ankle motion, says Jeff Doddroe of Ohio Willow Wood. The award-winning version of the device included a number of significant engineering and design accomplishments. Doddroe explains that "composite materials used in the toe springs and the foot plate needed to have increased flexibility . . . without sacrificing strength." http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/01/06/002a.html
Hearing Aid Uses Digital Perception Processing Claro and WatchPilot digital hearing instruments Submitted and manufactured by Phonak (Warrenville, IL) Hearing aid development has already attained two different goals: devices have been made smaller, and communication in background noise has been improved. "Today we want to make it easier to hear and understand speech in quiet places, noisy places, and anywhere the wearer wants to hear," says Laura Voll of Phonak AG. "We also want the sound quality to be as natural as possible and control over the hearing aid as convenient as possible."
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