Assistive Technologies for the Aging Population

The United States is experiencing an unprecedented growth of its older adult population from now until 2050. The current health paradigm, which is focused on the provider model of health, is not going to be able to handle this growth and demand on the system. A health model where patients and other stakeholders participate in healthcare may be sustainable. However, these people need to be empowered, and technology can play a big role. Thus, it will become of increasing importance to discover the most appropriate way to integrate technology into daily living to maintain proper quality of life for this adult cohort. The work contained in this doctoral dissertation is driven by the needs of older adults, and represents examples of the types of technologies and design methods that will be needed to keeping older adults healthy. These medical technologies aim to address some the prevalent healthcare issues facing older adults in an appropriate and dignity preserving way. Three technologies will be discussed here, the first is a novel hearing technology that addresses many of the concerns older adults have with the presently available hearing devices. The device is located deep in the ear canal and recreates sounds with mechanical movements of the tympanic membrane. The DHD successfully recreated ossicular chain movements across the frequencies of human hearing while demonstrating controllable magnitude. Moreover, the device was validated in a short-term human clinical performance study where the DHD successfully recreated sound in healthy subject.The second is an exploratory non-invasive diagnostic system that analyzes a subject's pupil light reflex to gain insight to neurological health. This prototype was developed and validated on a small population to evaluate the ease-of-use of this portable system and to establish a viable testing protocol to evaluate a population of retinal cells that are believed to be involved in a variety of neurological disorders. Lastly, a non-obtrusive insole was developed to measure a subject's balance and gait in many different environments. This technology has been designed and is currently undergoing testing in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California Irvine Medical Center

Assistive Technologies for the Aging Population

The United States is experiencing an unprecedented growth of its older adult population from now until 2050. The current health paradigm, which is focused on the provider model of health, is not going to be able to handle this growth and demand on the system. A health model where patients and other stakeholders participate in healthcare may be sustainable. However, these people need to be empowered, and technology can play a big role. Thus, it will become of increasing importance to discover the most appropriate way to integrate technology into daily living to maintain proper quality of life for this adult cohort. The work contained in this doctoral dissertation is driven by the needs of older adults, and represents examples of the types of technologies and design methods that will be needed to keeping older adults healthy. These medical technologies aim to address some the prevalent healthcare issues facing older adults in an appropriate and dignity preserving way. Three technologies will be discussed here, the first is a novel hearing technology that addresses many of the concerns older adults have with the presently available hearing devices. The device is located deep in the ear canal and recreates sounds with mechanical movements of the tympanic membrane. The DHD successfully recreated ossicular chain movements across the frequencies of human hearing while demonstrating controllable magnitude. Moreover, the device was validated in a short-term human clinical performance study where the DHD successfully recreated sound in healthy subject.The second is an exploratory non-invasive diagnostic system that analyzes a subject's pupil light reflex to gain insight to neurological health. This prototype was developed and validated on a small population to evaluate the ease-of-use of this portable system and to establish a viable testing protocol to evaluate a population of retinal cells that are believed to be involved in a variety of neurological disorders. Lastly, a non-obtrusive insole was developed to measure a subject's balance and gait in many different environments. This technology has been designed and is currently undergoing testing in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California Irvine Medical Center

A micro-drive hearing aid: a novel non-invasive hearing prosthesis actuator.

The direct hearing device (DHD) is a new auditory prosthesis that combines conventional hearing aid and middle ear implant technologies into a single device. The DHD is located deep in the ear canal and recreates sounds with mechanical movements of the tympanic membrane. A critical component of the DHD is the microactuator, which must be capable of moving the tympanic membrane at frequencies and magnitudes appropriate for normal hearing, with little distortion. The DHD actuator reported here utilized a voice coil actuator design and was 3.7 mm in diameter. The device has a smoothly varying frequency response and produces a precisely controllable force. The total harmonic distortion between 425 Hz and 10 kHz is below 0.5 % and acoustic noise generation is minimal. The device was tested as a tympanic membrane driver on cadaveric temporal bones where the device was coupled to the umbo of the tympanic membrane. The DHD successfully recreated ossicular chain movements across the frequencies of human hearing while demonstrating controllable magnitude. Moreover, the micro-actuator was validated in a short-term human clinical performance study where sound matching and complex audio waveforms were evaluated by a healthy subject

A micro-drive hearing aid: a novel non-invasive hearing prosthesis actuator

The direct hearing device (DHD) is a new auditory prosthesis that combines conventional hearing aid and middle ear implant technologies into a single device. The DHD is located deep in the ear canal and recreates sounds with mechanical movements of the tympanic membrane. A critical component of the DHD is the microactuator, which must be capable of moving the tympanic membrane at frequencies and magnitudes appropriate for normal hearing, with little distortion. The DHD actuator reported here utilized a voice coil actuator design and was 3.7 mm in diameter. The device has a smoothly varying frequency response and produces a precisely controllable force. The total harmonic distortion between 425 Hz and 10 kHz is below 0.5% and acoustic noise generation is minimal. The device was tested as a tympanic membrane driver on cadaveric temporal bones where the device was coupled to the umbo of the tympanic membrane. The DHD successfully recreated ossicular chain movements across the frequencies of human hearing while demonstrating controllable magnitude. Moreover, the micro-actuator was validated in a short-term human clinical performance study where sound matching and complex audio waveforms were evaluated by a healthy subject