Greg Slabaugh, Tong Fang, Fred McBagonluri, Alexander Zouhar, Rupen Melkisetoglu, Hui Xie, Gozde Unal
keywords
3-D Shape Modeling, hearing,
abstract
According to recent estimates, hearing loss affects approximately 314 in 1,000 adults over the age of 65. While there are many causes of hearing loss, including genetic factors, disease, trauma, and exposure to damaging noise, the most common way of addressing hearing loss is by using a hearing aid. Since a patient typically uses a hearing aid for many hours during the day, it must be comfortable to wear. Hearing aids are typically custom-made to match the three-dimensional (3-D) geometry of the patient’s ear in order to achieve a comfortable fit.
This article presents a softwarebased approach to interactive 3-D shape modeling for geometric design of hearing instruments. We review various shape modeling operations that transform a raw impression to the final shape of the hearing aid device. In addition, we present state-of-the-art methods for automating the design process.