BS EN ISO 9001
BS EN ISO 13485

2005-04-22 Most youngsters do not believe hearing loss to be a serious problem even though 6 in 10 have experienced ringing in their ears or other hearing problems following a concert.

In a recent survey of almost 10,000 young respondents conducted through the MTV web site, only about 8 percent stated that they consider hearing loss as a very big problem, while 18 percent found acne to be the number one problem and 45 percent judged smoking to be a very serious problem.

"Hearing issues are practically off the radar screen", Dr. Roland Eavey of Harvard Medical School, the head of the survey, told forbes.com

Although a set of earplugs can make a big difference when going to a concert, nightclub or other places with loud music, just a small minority of young people choose to use them, even though loud music can damage their hearing for life.

Only 14 percent have tried to protect their ears in places of extreme noise even though 61 percent have experienced hearing problems following concerts and 43 percent reported problems following nights out at nightclubs.

"We have to find ways to make kids understand they can rock on - and keep their hearing, too", explained Dr. David L. Katz of the Prevention Research Center at the Yale University School of Medicine.

According to the young people, their poor use of earplugs is due to their lack of awareness of the dangers to their hearing from loud music and noise. Two in three stated that they would have considered using earplugs if only they had known about the risk.

In general, the youngsters know little about hearing and hearing loss. 16 percent stated they had heard about hearing loss before the MTV survey, and only 9 percent said they had heard about it in school.

Source: www.hear-it.org

2005-03-14 A panel of American technology experts ranks modern hearing aids among the top 25 inventions of the last 25 years.

The list of top inventions was compiled as part of the-25 year anniversary celebration in 2005 of the CNN television news network. The Internet tops the list followed by the cell phone and the PC.

The modern hearing aid is 24th on the list of breakthrough technologies, an impressive position considering the much more widespread use of other competing high tech inventions.

The experts, however, point out that the hearing aid deserves its high ranking because of the improvement in life quality it provides for hearing impaired people by offering sleeker, better-designed models.

Surveys indicate that approximately 10-12 percent of the world population suffers from hearing disorders and could benefit from treatment with hearing aids. But only one in four of these hearing impaired people use hearing aids.

Source: www.cnn.com, 18.01.2005

2004-05-01 Recently P.C. Werth introduced CAMISHA, a revolutionary new process in ITE manufacturing technology that offers huge benefits to hearing-aid users and dispensers alike.

Until now, the final stages of manufacture of digital ITE aids have been based on a time-consuming manual process. An aid's outer shell is made from a cast taken from an impression of the patient's ear, which is sent to the laboratory by the hearing aid audiologist. This process suffers from fitting variability and lack of repeatability.

CAMISHA - Computer Aided Manufacturing of Individual Shells for Hearing Aids - is based around the latest computer modelling and laser technologies. The laboratory technician now laser scans the ear canal impression and all the resulting data of the shape of the ear is transferred into a specially developed computer modelling software program. The technician can then design an on-screen 3D computer model of the ideally shaped custom hearing aid, incorporating all the required miniature components in the tiny available space.

The data for this model is then transferred to the Stereo Lithography Apparatus (SLA), which uses a laser to build-up the shell layer-by-layer within a bath of liquid photoplastic acrylic material. The custom shells made by this new process have a superior quality and consistency, resulting in smaller sized and better fitting hearing aids for the user.

Widex holds the basic international patent for this completely new method for manufacturing hearing aid shells, which has only now become a reality thanks to the latest advances in scanner, computer modelling and materials technologies. The advantages of this process are so significant that Widex is licensing it to other hearing aid companies.

Lawrence Werth, Managing Director of P.C. Werth Ltd comments: "The CAMISHA process allows the final product to be a more exact representation of the ear impression, so the user has greater assurance of optimum fit and comfort. The great news for hearing aid users is that fewer modifications and faster remakes, based on the stored computer data, will lead to greater customer satisfaction. We're delighted to be able to bring this cutting edge technology to the UK for the first time."

Widex is the first manufacturer to have installed every stage of this process within an ITE laboratory serving the UK market. Apart from the UK, Widex now has CAMISHA installations in Australia, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, as well as the USA. Further installations are ongoing for other markets around the world.