Project Aims to Create Signal Processing to Counteract Distortions
Caused by Sensoneural Hearing Loss
Somerset, NJ December 14 - The Oticon Foundation announced today that it has awarded a $1.8 million grant to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). The grant will fund a project designed to better understand the distortions caused by sensoneural hearing loss with the goal of creating signal processing to counteract these distortions.
"This project aims to improve signal processing for individual hearing-impaired listeners by customizing mechanisms to their particular idiosyncrasies in auditory processing," explains Don Schum, Ph.D., Vice President of Audiology for Oticon, Inc. "In keeping with Oticon's commitment to People First, the ultimate goal of this project is to help the hearing care community create and provide optimal solutions for each unique hearing loss."
The WRAMC research team will focus on the unaided suprathreshold measure of auditory function. Research has shown that the more normal a listener's suprathreshold auditory function, the greater the success a patient is likely to achieve with hearing instruments. To date, attempts to compensate for suprathreshold distortions have resulted in some success, seen especially in the development of directional microphones. The new research seeks to gain further insight into distortions caused by hearing loss that will make possible even more sophisticated hearing aid signal processing.
"Every researcher hopes to make a difference. We think that this work provides a real opportunity to understand the distortions that are introduced by hearing impairment in a way that will allow us to do something about it," states Brian Walden, Ph.D., Director of Research, Army Audiology and Speech Center at WRAMC. "This project will be collaboration among many prominent scientists working in laboratories in the United States and Europe. Together, we hope to provide insight and practical applications for this complex problem."
The $1.8 million grant represents funding for a three year period. The work will be carried out by a core group of experienced auditory scientists from several Walter Reed laboratories and the Veterans Administration research division in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Walden is administrative director for the grant and serves as co-principal investigator on the project with researchers Ken Grant, Ph.D., Van Summer. Ph. D. and Marjorie Leek, Ph.D., all of the Research Section of the Army Audiology and Speech Center at WRAMC. Dr. Leek's laboratory at the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center will be one of four laboratories involved in the project.
The core group will receive input from a scientific advisory board comprised of experts working on related problems as well as from individual consultations with other laboratories.
About The Oticon Foundation
As one of the world's oldest foundations, the Oticon Foundation sponsors social and educational programs, publications, conferences, cultural activities and campaigns - both for researchers, hearing care professionals and the general public. The Foundation's statutes mandate that income be used to support the needs of hearing-impaired individuals as well as organizations that serve people with hearing loss.
The Oticon Foundation is the largest shareholder in William Demant Holding, with a shareholding just below 60 percent. Income is derived through its ownership of the majority of shares in the Oticon Company.
For more information, visit www.oticonusa.com
About Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Health Care System provides comprehensive health care for more than 150,000 soldiers, other service members, family members and retirees in the National Capital Area. Its hub is Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the clinical center of gravity of American military medicine.
The Walter Reed Health Care System is also the Army's leading center of clinical research and innovation, attracting annual research support for such efforts as prostate disease research, coronary artery disease reversal, comprehensive breast care, therapy of traumatic brain injury, amputee care and limb salvage, advanced diabetes management, technical advances in robotic surgery, nursing care delivery, evaluation of balance disorders, telemedicine, treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, and many other programs.
