人耳的听损情况分为三种：传导性耳聋、感音神经性耳聋以及混合性耳聋，但是如何区分这三种耳聋以及他们各有什么特点呢？
1、传导性耳聋的产生机理：存在于外耳或中耳，声音在抵达内耳之前的振动受到阻碍，内耳功能正常，但因为刺激弱而不能产生神经冲动，大多数可以治疗。
纯音测听显示：骨导正常，气导较差，且气导骨导之差大于10dB。
传导性耳聋产生的原因是：外耳道堵塞性病变：外耳道耵聍栓塞、异物、闭锁或肿瘤，骨膜穿孔：由炎症、异物、或爆破声、或扇耳光引起，听骨链固定：大声、扇耳光、交通事故等，中耳炎症：鼓膜炎、分泌性中耳炎、化脓性中耳炎。
传导性耳聋的解决办法：可以到医院进行鼓膜修补、分泌性中耳炎治疗，如治疗效果不好建议选配助听器。
2、感音神经性耳聋的产生机理：发生在内耳、听神经、大脑皮层，占听力损失的95%，主要表现由于衰老、噪音损伤或疾病引起。（内耳的毛细胞、神经等受损）
纯音测听显示：气导、骨导均下降，两者间差距小于10dB。
感音神经性耳聋产生的原因：感音性聋——（耳蜗损伤）耳蜗毛细胞出现损伤或坏死，如噪声性聋、药物性聋。神经性聋——（听神经损伤）由于听神经及其以后的部位病变。中枢性聋——（脑干和大脑皮层病变）可以由于脑肿瘤、脑外伤等引起。
感音神经性耳聋的解决办法：感音性聋和神经性聋通过医疗手段几乎是不可能治愈的，正确的选配助听器是首选的有效途径；中枢性聋选配助听器时要注意使用者的言语识别率。
3、混合性耳聋的产生机理：传导性耳聋和感音神经性耳聋同时存在。
纯音测听显示：气导和骨导都不正常，且气导与骨导之差大于10dB。
混合性耳聋的解决办法：首选助听器。

Hearing Aid of the Future
SAR prof’s new technology could help people hear by looking

Sargent research engineer Sylvain Favrot wears the portable eye-tracker component of the visually guided hearing aid (VGHA) developed by Professor Gerald Kidd and other researchers. Photo by Cydney Scott


The White Stripes is one of Erick Gallun’s favorite bands. But years before the rock duo split in 2011, he’d stopped going to see them. Gallun recalls his last, ill-fated attempt, when he was a postdoctoral fellow at BU and the band was performing in a New Hampshire hockey rink. His wife had a great time, but for Gallun, who is deaf in one ear, the experience was a bust. His right ear couldn’t filter out the reverberations in the rink, making the event about as frustrating as a feedback-riddled cell phone conversation. “The concert was essentially ruined,” he says.
Although Gallun didn’t have a hearing aid then, he says he doubts the one he’s using now would have made much difference. But in 2012, he tested a device he believes could get him back into the rock music scene: the visually guided hearing aid (VGHA), being developed by a Sargent College professor.
The VGHA can approximate or even surpass the normal human ear’s ability to choose what to tune into and what to ignore. It does this by making two preexisting technologies—an eye-tracker and an acoustic beam–forming microphone array—work together to counter some of the problems in typical hearing aids. Right now, the VGHA is a lab-based prototype whose components connect via computers and other equipment, but with further development, it could become a pair of portable hearing aid glasses.
Gerald Kidd says typical hearing aids sometimes fail to offer help for people with hearing loss in noisy environments because they amplify everything. Photo by Chitose Suzuki
Gerald Kidd, a SAR professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences and a specialist in psychoacoustics (the study of the perception of sound), came up with the idea for the VGHA in 2011. He’s now put it together at SAR’s Sound Field Laboratory with the help of an international research team and grants from the National Institutes of Health. Kidd believes that his team, which includes Sylvain Favrot, a research engineer in the SAR speech, language, and hearing sciences department, and staff at Sensimetrics Corporation of Malden, Mass., is the first to integrate these two technologies. And the test results are impressive: no other hearing aid, Kidd says, can do what this device can.
The VGHA is the latest advance in Kidd’s work to solve “the cocktail party problem,” where people with hearing loss struggle to follow conversations in noisy environments. It’s a big issue: nearly 20 percent of Americans age 12 or older have hearing loss severe enough to make communication difficult, Johns Hopkins Medicine reported in 2011. Typical hearing aids may not help much in some situations, Kidd says—they amplify everything, even those voices and sounds you want to tune out. One hearing aid in development tries to fix this by using the wearer’s head movements to guide the aid’s microphones. But this can tire the user, he says, and it’s relatively slow: we can’t turn our heads as quickly as we turn our attention. The VGHA addresses these problems by using eye movement (which is quicker than head movement) to steer the aid’s microphones, “like an acoustic flashlight that you’re shining on what you want to listen to,” Kidd says.
Gallun, now a research investigator at the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, tested the VGHA as a consultant on the project—with exciting results. Sitting in a listening booth at Sargent wearing the VGHA’s eye-tracking component—Mobile Eye-XG—he listened to recorded voices speaking from slightly different directions. He was to pick out what one particular voice was saying—no easy feat with impaired hearing, given that all the voices were speaking at once. But by looking in the direction of his cue, he “told” the eye-tracker to make the VGHA’s microphone component amplify the voice he wanted, helping him hear what it was saying. “I’ll take two!” Gallun enthused to the team. He’s excited about the VGHA’s potential not only for himself, but also for the veterans he works with at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oregon, many hearing-impaired from exposure to blasts.
Although the VGHA is still a prototype and needs further testing, Kidd hopes enthusiasm for the technology will propel its development. Interested hearing aid companies, he says, could make the device wearable and attractive. Kidd and Favrot also speculate that the VGHA could piggyback on emerging technologies like Google Glass—lightweight glasses whose capabilities range from projecting driving directions to responding to voice commands.
Whenever the VGHA reaches consumers, you can expect Gallun to get his hands on one. All he’ll need then is a White Stripes reunion.
This article was originally published in the 2013–2014 issue of Inside Sargent.
Julie Rattey can be reached at jrattey@bu.edu.


source from:  http://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/hearing-...the-future

Timeline of a hearing aid: from concept to completion
Contributed by Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy Hearing
February 24, 2016
Many hearing aids fit almost invisibly in the ear canal. Can you spot the narrow tubing in this picture?

Hearing aids have come a long way from the ear trumpets and large, box-shaped instruments previous generations used to amplify sound in their environment. Today, hearing devices are small enough to fit almost invisibly inside the ear canal while still containing technology so advanced it can distinguish speech from background noise and work compatibly with other technology you use on a daily basis.
How long does it take to make hearing aid? From concept to completion, the process can take more than ten years and involve as many as 500 engineers, consumers, hearing healthcare professionals and retailers – all of whom are focused on creating usable instruments which will enhance quality of life for those who wear them.
1. Research and development
Developing a new, high-end product can involve 200-300 people over a period of three to four years, especially when the manufacturer is introducing a new platform and design but all hearing devices begin as an idea. Many of them come from people just like you – individuals with hearing loss who want to hear well in every listening situation. You tell your hearing healthcare professional what your hearing challenges are and they relay that information back to the hearing aid companies.
Ideas for new hearing aid designs also come from hearing health professionals and retailers, as well as from the latest technology. Once hearing aid companies understand what challenges users are facing, they begin the process of manufacturing a solution.
“Technology is changing all the time. So is the concept of aging,” Mandy Mroz, Digital Director for Healthy Hearing said. “Today’s 65 year-olds don’t consider themselves old. Consumers are very engaged in health and hearing health and have high expectations. That’s a new type of patient for the hearing health professional.”
For example, cell phone technology prompted companies to develop devices which can be controlled with smart phone applications. The goal was to develop user-friendly devices which are easy for the young – and the young at heart – to use on a daily basis.
If the technology doesn’t exist, development is the most time consuming part of the process. For example, one of the biggest complaints current hearing aid users have is the ability to distinguish voices from other background noise. In 2013, researchers at Ohio State University found a way to break sound into units of either speech or noise, then discard the noise. Dr. Eric Healy, a professor of Speech and Hearing Science at OSU who worked on the new technology, said he hopes the technology will be on the market within the next 10 years.
2. Testing
Prototypes with new technology must undergo clinical testing in order to gauge its effectiveness. Companies give their data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to secure permission to market it to consumers. That’s because hearing aids are classified as medical devices and must meet strict guidelines.
For example, the FDA recently allowed marketing of a new hearing aid that uses a laser diode and direct vibration of the eardrum to amplify sound. The EarLens Contact Hearing Device (CHD), manufactured by EarLens Corporation of Menlo Park, California, is designed for use by adults with mild to severe sensorineural hearing impairment. The CHD uses the user’s own eardrum as a speaker and enables amplification over a wider range of frequencies.
Another example of new technology currently in the testing phase comes from researchers at the University of Stirling in Scotland who are currently working on a hearing device that will contain a miniaturized camera that can lip-read, process the visual information in real time, and help the user seamlessly switch between audio and visual cues. The researchers expect the new software will enhance communication for users in difficult listening environments, such as noisy restaurants or public transportation venues like airports and train stations.
The concept is one that Gerald Kidd, a professor of speech, language and hearing sciences and specialist in psychoacoustics at Sargent College at Boston University, has been working on since 2011.
A prototype of Kidd’s VGHA device has been in the testing phase since late 2014. He’s hoping hearing aid manufacturers will become interested enough in the device’s potential to make it wearable.
3. Design and manufacturing
Once the technology has been tested and approved by the FDA, engineers must collaborate on design and manufacturing. Although the components themselves may not be expensive, making them fit into attractive, wearable devices can be tricky. Today’s consumer prefers inconspicuous devices which work unobtrusively in the background and won’t interfere with their active lifestyles.
Some manufactures have their own production facilities because the devices require such specific skills and equipment to make that it’s difficult to outsource them. Large production facilities can produce as many as several thousand instruments every week.
4. Education
It’s no secret that hearing aid technology has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Not long ago, hearing healthcare professionals used screw drivers to manually adjust their patient’s hearing devices. Today, digital hearing aids are accurately programmed from a computer and customized to each patient’s specific hearing loss and lifestyle.
That’s exciting for consumers with hearing loss, but it means hearing healthcare professionals must be constantly learning about new devices are on the market to understand how to fit them for the best possible results.
5. Distribution
Finally, the device is ready to offer to the general public. Many of the big companies, such as Oticon, Starkey, and Widex, only supply their products to hearing healthcare professionals who directly fit and sell to patients they see in person. That’s because research indicates individuals will have more success wearing their hearing aids if hearing loss has been correctly diagnosed, patients have been carefully counseled and the hearing aid has been properly fit and adjusted.
What does all of this mean? Although making a hearing device is a time-consuming process, the consumer can be assured the hearing devices they receive from qualified, licensed hearing healthcare professionals have been thoroughly researched, manufactured, tested and FDA approved. Although the process may take as many as ten years, the successful result it provides for those with hearing loss is worth the wait. 






Orignal article from:

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52...completion

Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy Hearing

Debbie Clason holds a master's degree from Indiana University. Her impressive client list includes financial institutions, real estate developers, physicians, pharmacists and nonprofit organizations. Read more about Debbie.

Hearing aids have come a long way since the weird and wonderful vacuum tube contraptions of the 1800s, but it’s only within the last few decades that a truly transformative wave of fashionable, functional devices have started to appear. But how did this happen? Medical Technology takes a look back at the history of digital hearing aids, from the first devices of the 1990s to the innovative AI-powered technologies of the present day.






1995 – Oticon develops the first digital hearing aid
Oticon introduced the JUMP-1 digital hearing aid platform, the world’s first digital hearing aid device. The devices were offered to 14 approved audiological centres worldwide, to enable them to develop their own digital solutions for hearing impaired patients. The behind the ear (BTE) device supported software which allowed reprogramming, and attempted to utilise different signal-processing systems over extended periods of time, to allow for normal daily use. The dame technology was used in Oticon’s first commercially available hearing aid, the DigiFocus, which was brought to the market the next year.
1996 – Widex makes the first digital hearing aid for commercial use
Widex’s Senso was the first digital hearing aid to be fully commercialised. The Senso boasted fully-automatic digital adjustment, with the user needing only to choose whether to activate the microphone or telecoil input. Everything else was adjusted automatically, meaning unwanted noise could be efficiently filtered out. Senso was fitted to the needs of an individual user by their clinician, and had its own built-in audiometer.
Widex sold 100,000 of the Senso just six months after their launch. A survey by Bergen University Hospital established that Senso users found it easier to understand speech in noisy surroundings than users of other devices, a problem many manufactures had struggled with for years. The survey also found that Senso users kept their aids in for more hours of the day than users of other hearing aids.
2001 – Oticon employs voice-targeting technology
Oticon began to use the VoiceFinder speech processing system in its Adapto hearing aid. VoiceFinder allowed fully prescribed amplification when speech was present, but dialled down to ‘comfort mode’ when no one was talking. This meant Adapto was able to optimise a user’s understanding of speech without simply increasing volume and leaving them overwhelmed with other sounds, as well as decreasing feedback and distortion when listening to their own voice.
2004 – Oticon Syncro becomes the first aid to utilise AI for processing
Artificial intelligence (AI) reached hearing aid technology in 2004, when the Oticon Syncro began to use AI to in its voice priority processing (VPP) system. This system was able to take the aid’s Multi-band Adaptive Directionality, Tri-State Noise Reduction and Voice Aligned Compression to the next level.
Prior to Syncro, features such as directional microphones, noise reduction and feedback cancellation could struggle to function in unpredictable sound environments such as busy streets, office settings and crowded restaurants. However, using the AI VPP, Syncro was able to process different combinations of its unique features in parallel to select the specific combination that gave the clearest signal at a given point in time.
2005 – Bluetooth wireless technology is introduced to hearing aids
Starkey Laboratories introduced the ELI device, enabling hearing aids to be compatible with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones for the first time. Named by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of the year
The device was designed to plug into the bottom of behind-the-ear hearing aids and route calls directly from the phone through ELI and into the aid. For users of other type of hearing aid, the ELI device could be work on a necklace and linked to the hearing aid via analog wireless.
2010 – Widex releases the first hearing aid designed for babies
Widex released the BABY 440 hearing aid, the first digital aid specifically designed for babies. Set up to provide high quality sound to infants with minimal to moderate-severe hearing loss, the aid’s miniature size and light but tough materials meant it fit comfortably and securely in small ears.
2014 – GN ReSound launches the first Made-for-iPhone hearing aids
The ReSound LiNX and corresponding Beltone First were the world’s first Made-for-iPhone (MFi) hearing aids. As well as being powerful enough to address 90% of hearing losses, the devices’ MFi connectivity allowed direct streaming of sounds from iPhone, iPad and iPod products, allowing users to treat their aids are wireless headphones or to talk on the phone without the need for an intermediary device.
The ReSound Smart app designed to accompany the devices allowed users to set preferred volume levels and treble/bass settings for the audio streamed into their hearing aids, as well as use geotagging to adjust the aids’ settings to the acoustics of frequently-visited places like home, work and favourite restaurants. The app also featured a geotagging function to help users locate their hearing aids if misplaced.
2016 – IoT enabled hearing aids reach consumers
The Oticon Opn is the first Internet of Things (IoT) enabled hearing aid, which could be programmed to communicate directly with a range of connected devices such as doorbells, smoke detectors and baby alarms through its If This Then That (IFTTT) technology. This enables a sound such as a spoken notification or chime to be delivered through the hearing aids when these devices are triggered, ensuring the users’ hearing loss doesn’t mean they miss vital notifications from the devices.
The Opn does this using a patented dual communication system called TwinLink that combines binaural processing with streamer-free internet connectivity, without compromising battery life or physical size.
2019 – Starkey launches sophisticated AI-powered health monitoring aid
The Livio AI hearing aid is the first ever to use integrated sensors and AI to monitor the user’s health. Through the accompanying Thrive app, Livio AI hearing aids use accelerometers and gyroscopes to track the wearer’s physical and mental health for an overall daily wellness score.
Ideal for elderly and frail aid users, these sensors can detect when a fall occurs and send a text message to up to three emergency contacts, using AI to detect what is an isn’t within the normal range of motion for the user to avoid any false alarms.













the original link : https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/fe...d-history/

助听器(Hearing Aid)是一种供聋人使用的、补偿听力损失的小型扩音设备，其发展历史可以分为以下七个时代:手掌集音时代、炭精时代、真空管、晶体管、集成电路、微处理器和数字助听器时代。


人类最早、最实用的“助听器”可能是聋人自己的手掌。将手掌放在耳朵边形成半圆形喇叭状，可以很好地收集声音。虽然这种方法的增益效果仅为3dB左右，而且也不是现代意义上的助听器，但是，这是最自然的助听方法。直到现在仍然可以看到一些老年人在倾听别人讲话时用手掌来集音的情况。许多哺乳动物都有硕大的耳朵，所以它们的听力比人要好得多。

受到手掌集音的启发，一些有心人先后发明了各种形状的、简单的机械装置，如象嗽叭或螺号一样的“耳喇叭”，木制的“听板”、“听管”，象帽子和瓶子一样的“听帽”、“听瓶”，象扇子和动物翅膀一样的“耳扇翼”，以及很长的象听诊器一样的“讲话管”，等等。由于人们认为听管越长集音效果越好，所以有的听管竟长达几十厘米，甚至一米多。听别人讲话时用手拿着听管伸到别人的嘴边，样子滑稽可笑，但却使聋人提高了听力。同时，也提醒讲话者尽量大声讲话。这种简单的机械助听装置一直使用了几百年，直到十九世纪，才逐渐被炭精电话式助听器取代。

1878年，美国科学家Bell发明了第一台炭精式助听器。这种助听器是由炭精传声器、耳机、电池、电线等部件组装而成。

1890年，奥地利科学家Ferdinant Alt制备出了第一代电子管助听器。

1904年，丹麦人Hans Demant与美国人Resse Hutchison共同投资批量生产助听器。到二十世纪40年代，已经有气导和骨导两种类型的助听器了。这个时期的助听器在技术上已经有了较大的发展和提高，虽然能够满足一些聋人的需要，但是，还有许多缺点，如噪声太大，体积笨重如17寸电视机，不易携带，等。

1920年，热离子真空管(热阴极电子管)问世不久，就出现了真空管助听器。随着真空管技术的不断发展，助听器体积逐渐变小，实现了主机和电池的分离。1921年，英国生产了第一台商业性电子管助听器。由于电子管需要两个电源供电(一是加热电子管中的灯丝，使之发放电子;二是驱动电子通过电栅到达阳极)，因此这种助听器体积大而笨重，虽然增益和清晰度较好，但几乎无法携带。随着时间的推移，汞电池代替了锌电池，使电池的体积显著减小，电池与助听器终于可以合为一体了。第二次世界大战时，出现了如印刷电路和陶瓷电容等新技术材料，使得一体式助听器的体积显著缩小，这样，助听器就可以随身携带了。逐渐地，助听器也采用了削峰(peak clipping, PC)和压缩( automatic gain control, AGC)等技术。

1943年，开始研制集成式助听器，将电源、传声器和放大器装在一个小盒子内，为现代盒式助听器的雏形。同年，丹麦建立了两家工厂批量生产助听器，一家是Oticon，一家是Danavox。助听器的体积也越来越小，最后，竞能象香烟盒一样大，携带已非常方便。

1948年，半导体问世，电子工程师们立即将半导体技术应用于助听器，获得较好效果。采用一部分半导体元件，可以使助听器的体积进一步缩小，如果全部采用半导体元件，声反馈将不可避免。

1953年，晶体管助听器问世，使助听器向微型化发展提供了可能性。1954年，出现了眼镜式助听器。为了避免声反馈，设计者将接受器和麦克风分别装在两边的眼镜腿上，但未能实现双耳配戴。1955年，推出了整个机身都在单个镜腿上的眼镜式助听器，使双耳同时配戴助听器成为可能。

1956年，制成了耳背式助听器，不仅体积进一步减小，优越性也超过了眼镜式和盒式助听器，成为全球销售量最大的助听器。

1957年，耳内式助听器问世。新的陶瓷传声器频率响宽阔平坦，克服了以往压电晶体的不足。钽电容的出现，使电容体积进一步减小，晶体管电路向集成电路这一小型化方向快速发展。

随着大规模集成电路的出现，助听器的体积进一步减小，耳内式助听器出现以后不久，半耳甲腔式、耳道式、完全耳道式助听器相继出现，在很大程度上满足了患者心理和美观上的需要。

1958年，我国开始生产盒式助听器，目前已能生产耳内式、耳背式助听器。

1988年出现的可编程助听器，利用遥控器变换多个聆听程序，以达到最舒适的听觉感受。可编程助听器采用广角麦克风和指向性麦克风助听器，可在日常生活中和嘈杂环境中运用不同的聆听模式，使听到的声音更为清晰。配带指向性助听器的人虽然目光未投向您，但是，他在专心收听您的讲话，故似乎有监听的特殊用途。据传，美国前总统克林顿就配戴这样的助听器。

近年来又推出了“数码”助听器，数字信号处理能力极强，为选配提供更大的灵活性。

经历了一百多年的风风雨雨，今天的助听器已经有了耳内式、耳背式、盒式、眼镜式、发卡式、钢笔式、无线式等多种形状，助听效果明显提高。我们相信，在不久的将来，助听器的体积会越来越小，功能会越来越强大，并能造福所有的聋人

1. 验配算法： fitting algorithm

2. 手机App: mobile phone App

3. 验配软件: Fitting software

4.音频语音核心算法: audio algorithm like Noise reduction, Feedback, Compression etc.

5.PC端验配算法: PC Fitting algrorithm

6.无线验配方法: wireless Fitting Algorithm

7音频传输: Audio streaming

Audiology Focus Area

Hearing loss is a silent problem that often goes untreated for years. Recent studies have shown that adults with untreated hearing loss have significantly higher rates for psychosocial disorders such as depression and anxiety, are at higher risk of developing dementia, and incur higher medical bills compared to those without hearing loss.
Today’s hearing solutions include removable and implantable hearing aids such as advanced digital hearing aids and cochlear implants for those with severe hearing loss, respectively. A wide range of assistive listening devices (ALDs) are also available for a variety of situations and listening environments.
Patient expectations of hearing solutions vary depending on age, hearing loss magnitude and first-time use, and hearing aid manufacturers are responding to patient demands and competitive pressures with ever-improving designs. However, challenges remain, especially in striking a balance between increased functionality and long battery life.
ON Semiconductor has been the leader in ultra-low power consumption solutions for hearing aid manufacturers for decades. Our ongoing R&D efforts align with your design challenges to deliver the widest selection of products in the industry from preconfigured to fully-customized solutions.
You can now design hearing aids with the best performance, functionality, and secure wireless connections combined with the lowest power consumption in the industry and ultra-miniature size.
Learn more about our Ezairo products that are used by top hearing aid manufacturers around the world.

引用:

• Ezairo 5900 (dual core)
  
• Ezairo 7100 (quad core)
  
• Ezairo 7150 SL (quad core with wireless connectivity)
  
• Ezairo 7111
  
• Development Tools
  • Open-Programmable
    
  • Ezairo Preconfigured Suite
    

引用:

• Ongoing research and development in digital signal processing and wireless technologies
  
• Unparalleled manufacturing flexibility
  
• Dedication to customer service
  
• Best-in-class development tools
  

About SDT:

     






sDT is a leading designer and manufacturer of ultra-low-power semiconductor solutions for hearing aids and portable, battery-powered DSP applications, and a leading provider of advanced high density interconnect technologies used in custom miniaturized packages. Based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, SDT has a 37-year history of innovation in developing miniaturized audio processors. The hearing instrument products and manufacturing operations of Gennum Corporation were acquired in 2007 to form SDT. For more information,

37年的助听设备历史，从事超低功耗助听器，便携，电池供电的DSP应用


2010年安森美收购SDT: $22M

PHOENIX, Ariz. – June 9, 2010 – ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN), a premier supplier of high performance, energy efficient silicon solutions for green electronics, today announced it has acquired privately held Sound Design Technologies, Ltd. (SDT) from an affiliate of Global Equity Capital, LLC, in an all cash transaction for initial consideration of approximately $22 million.
Under the terms of the acquisition, the seller will also have the ability to receive additional earn-out proceeds of up to $10 million if, among other things, SDT is able to meet certain revenue thresholds in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The initial consideration value represents approximately one times SDT’s first quarter 2010 annualized sales levels. SDT will now become an integrated part of ON Semiconductor’s Medical Division, based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

“The acquisition of Sound Design Technologies solidifies our position as a leading supplier of ultra-low-power digital signal processing (DSP) technology for hearing aids and audio processing applications,” said Robert Tong, vice president of ON Semiconductor’s Medical Division. “In addition, the acquisition strengthens the company’s talent base and adds an experienced design and applications engineering team for the audiology segment. SDT’s advanced manufacturing expertise in chip-scale capacitors and high density packaging will also expand our capabilities in delivering advanced, highly miniaturized packaging technology, crucial for hearing aid and similarly size-constrained applications that demand medical-grade quality.”
Michael Hirano, executive vice president, operations of Global Equity Capital, stated, “Matching SDT’s cutting edge technology with ON Semiconductor’s worldwide presence and industry expertise is a natural next step in the evolution of the business, also benefiting SDT customers building sophisticated hearing products.