Tech Advances Upgrade Hearing Aids
From: Machine Design - 08/24/2015
By: Stephen Mraz

Advances in MEMs and signal processing let hearing aids provide
understandable speech and more natural, comfortable sounds to the hearing
impaired.

Technological developments in hearing aids (HAs) have always been driven by
efforts to miniaturize hardware and give those with hearing problems - an
estimated 35 million in the US - the ability to better hear and understand
the people and environment around them. Miniaturization lets engineers pack
more amplification and signal processing power in small, wearable housings.
It also lets hearing-impaired people use HAs small enough to go largely
unnoticed.

Advancements in HAs have always been spurred by developments in electronics
and MEMS and their manufacturing processes, and HAs are often the first
commercial devices to make use of those developments. For example, the first
consumer use of transistors was in a 1952 HA from Sonotone, according to John
Dzarnoski, director of technology development at Starkey Hearing
Technologies. It used a transistor and two vacuum tubes for amplification in
a device that measured 3 x 2.75 x 0.5 in., small enough to fit in a shirt
pocket.

Read the entire article at:
http://machinedesign.com/technologies/tech-advances-upgrade-hearing-aids

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