This episode of our Tech Briefs podcast series Here’s an Idea™ explores a variety of new-and-improved hearing aids, from $1 “do-it-yourself” devices to advanced systems that monitor brain waves.

Here’s an Idea brings you the inspiration behind invention, through interviews with the makers of today’s most exciting technologies.

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The Technologies

  • (01:13):  Innovation at the VA: A 3D-Printed Stent for Collapsed Cartilage
  • (08:02): A $1 Hearing Aid That You Can Build in an Hour
  • (15:28): A Mind-Reading Hearing Aid for the 'Cocktail Party Problem'
  • (22:19): A Brain Monitor for Cochlear-Implant Calibration

MORE INFORMATION ON THE TECHNOLOGIES FEATURED IN OUR EPISODE

A 3D-Printed Stent

To help a veteran with collapsed ear cartilage, Nikki Beitenman, a supervisory biomedical engineer at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina, helped a team at the hospital to design and build a 3D-printed stent. The FDA-approved device is leaps and bounds ahead of its first prototype: two straws! 

A Low-Cost Hearing Aid

Saad Bhamla, a Georgia Tech professor and bioengineer, knows that hearing aids are way too expensive. Bhamla is making a " LoChAid  " hearing aid that costs just under a dollar — and, if you know how to use a soldering iron, you can build one too!

Georgia Tech Assistant Professor M. Saad Bhamla assembles a prototype LoCHAid, an ultra-low-cost hearing aid built with a 3D-printed case and components that cost less than $1. (Image Credit: Craig Bromley)

Learn how to construct the LoCHAid:

A Hearing Aid for 'Cocktail Parties'

Dr. Nima Mesgarani, a professor at Columbia University and a lead researcher in the University’s Neural Acoustic    Processing Lab  , wanted to make a hearing aid that could help with "the cocktail party problem," to make a device that zeros in on the person doing the speaking, and suppresses the other sound sources. How did he do it? His system monitors brain waves.

A Brain Monitor for Cochlear Implants

Ben Somers, a post-doc researcher at KU Leuven, wants to monitor the brain too. Learn how measuring brainwave activity can confirm not just that a listener hears you, but that they understand  .

Learn more about Ben  .

Topics:
3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Data Acquisition Detectors Implants & Prosthetics Joining & Assembly MEMs MEMs Manufacturing & Prototyping Mechanical Components Nanotechnology Rapid Prototyping & Tooling Sensors Wearables
Transcript

00:00:02 THEY CAME UP WITH THIS SIMPLE BUT CUTTING-EDGE DEVICE. >> I WAS WATCHING TV, AND MY WIFE WOULD SET THE VOLUME FOR ABOUT 20. YOU KNOW HOW THAT BORICWORKS. I’D SET IT FOR 45, YOU KNOW? I SAID, I HAVE AN EAR PROBLEM. >> Reporter: WHEN 76-YEAR-OLD RETIRED ARMY SPECIALIST MICHAEL

00:00:23 NICOLETTI NOTICED SOMETHING WAS OFF WITH HIS HEARING, THE FORMER ENGINEER IN HIM DIDN’T WASTE TIME IN COMING UP WITH A SOLUTION. WHAT MADE YOU THINK, HUH, A STRAW COULD WORK? >> WALKING INTO THE KITCHEN, I SAW THIS -- WE HAVE A STACK OF STRAWS.

00:00:37 I SAID, YOU KNOW, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF I CUT ONE OF THOSE STRAWS OFF? SO I DID. I STUCK THEM IN MY EARS. THEN I WENT IN AND SAID, ALL RIGHT, TURN THE TV ON. LO AND BEHOLD, YOU KNOW, A SETTING OF 20 OR 25 WAS GOOD FOR ME NOW.

00:00:53 >> Reporter: IN NEED OF A MORE PERMANENT FIX, THE VIETNAM VET WAS REFERRED TO AUDIOLOGIST FLANAGAN AT THE VA MEDICAL CENTER IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. DR. FLANAGAN, THIS MAN TELLS YOU, I’VE BEEN PUTTING STRAWS IN MY EARS, DOC. WHAT’D YOU SAY?

00:01:12 >> A LITTLE ALARMING. I SAID, WE PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BE DOING THAT. WE CAN PROBABLY FIND AN ALTERNATIVE THAT CAN HELP YOU OUT. >> Reporter: DR. FLANAGAN DIAGNOSED NICOLETTI WITH ACQUIRED ATRESIA, EAR CANALS COLLAPSING.

00:01:29 MOST PEOPLE WITH THE CONDITION HAVE IT IN ONE EAR, BUT MR. NICOLETTI HAS IT IN BOTH. >> IF YOU’VE EVER WORN EAR PLUG, YOU’VE EXPERIENCED WHAT MR. NICOLETTI EXPERIENCES ON A DAILY BASIS. >> Reporter: SINCE NICOLETTI DIDN’T WANT SURGERY, HE AND DR. FLANAGAN DECIDED TO COME UP WITH

00:01:45 A DEVICE OF THEIR OWN THAT WOULD HELP HIM THE SAME WAY THE DRINKING STRAWS DID. BY PROPPING OPEN HIS EAR CANAL. BUT A BIT MORE SOPHISTICATED. SO DR. FLANAGAN REACHED OUT TO BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER NICKY BITEMAN, WHO RUNS THE 3D PRINTING LAB, AND ASKED HER TO MAKE STENTS FOR MR. NICOLETTI’S

00:02:06 EARS. THE LAB USES THE TECHNOLOGY TO PRINT A VARIETY OF THINGS FROMRE FOR VETERANS’ WHEELCHAIR. >> WE USE A SOFTWARE TO DRAW FROM SCRATCH. BASICALLY WHAT THAT MEANS IS WE’RE LITERALLY DRAWING ON THE COMPUTER IN 3D SHAPES. THEN THE PRINTER JUST DOES LAYER

00:02:27 BY LAYER AND FORMS THE SHAPE YOU UPLOAD TO IT. >> Reporter: THE LAB WENT THROUGH SIX DIFFERENT PROTOTYPES BEFORE COMING UP WITH THE RIGHT FIT. >> WE WERE ABLE TO RELY ON MR. NICOLETTI’S FEEDBACK. HEY, LET’S TRY THIS. LET’S MAKE IT SOFTER.

00:02:42 LET’S MAKE IT SMOOTHER. >> Reporter: THE STENTS HAVE BEEN A GAME-CHANGER FOR MR. NICOLETTI AND MEANT NO MORE DEBATES OVER THE TV VOLUME. >> AFTER USING THE STRAWS, I WAS DOWN IN THE 25 RANGE. NOW WITH THESE, I’M STILL DOWN IN THAT ABOUT 25. I’M A HAPPY CAMPER.

00:03:03 >> Reporter: WITHIN A FEW MONTHS, THE EAR STINT WAS GRANTED THE VA’S FIRST EVER COMPASSIONATE USE APPROVAL FOR A FDA. >> YOU MENTIONED PEOPLE DON’T OFTEN THINK ABOUT THE VA AS A HOTBED OF INNOVATION. I’D LOVE TO CHANGE THAT IDEA. CONSERVATIVELY, THERE ARE OVER 1

00:03:22 MILLION VETERANS IN OUR COUNTRY WITH HEARING LOSS. SO IF WE CAN CHANGE ONE VETERAN’S MIND TO COME TO THE VA AND USE US FOR THEIR HEALTH CARE, I THINK THAT’S A VICTORY, ALSO. >> Reporter: WERE YOU OKAY WITH BEING THE GUINEA PIG? >> ABSOLUTELY.

00:03:38 I’M A VETERAN. I FOUGHT IN VIETNAM. I HAVE MANY OF MY BROTHERS HERE. IF IT HELPS ONE OF THEM WITH A SIMILAR HEARING ISSUE, YOU KNOW, THEN I THINK IT IS WELL WORTH THE EFFORT. >> Reporter: YOU’RE THE ONLY GUY IN AMERICA WITH THESE DEVICES IN THEIR EARS.

00:03:59 NO PRESSURE HERE. >> I JUST WANT EVERYBODY TO KNOW THEY’RE CALLED THE GEOEAR CANAL STINTS. >> Reporter: I HEARD THEY LET YOU NAME THEM. >> GIOVANNI IS MY NEW GRANDSON. >> Reporter: THE GIO STINT. >> THAT’S GREAT. >> CUTE.

00:04:17 >> REMEMBER THAT. THE GIO STINT. HERE’S THE THING, THE COMPASSIONATE USE APPROVAL MEANS FOR NOW, ONLY MR. NICOLETTI CAN USE THE STINT BECAUSE IT IS YET TO UNDERGO CLINICAL TRIALS. THE TEAM AT THE CHARLESTON VA IS IN THE PROCESS FOR APPLYING FOR WIDER APPROVAL FOR THE DEVICE.

00:04:35 ONE OF THE BIGGEST PERKS OF THIS 3D PRINTING, 64 CENTS. THAT’S WHAT IT COSTS TO MAKE ONE OF THE PAIRS, 64 CENTS. >> THE FACT HE THOUGHT TO PUT STRAWS IN HIS EARS AND IT DEVELOPED INTO THIS, NAMED AFTER HIS GRANDSON. >> PHENOMENAL. >> NO WONDER HE’S BEEN MARRIED

00:04:54 ALL THOSE YEARS.