Just for Practice - 3-D printing Technology in Hearing Aid Industry


Chuang, Che-Kuang

3-D printing, as an architecture designer, I usually apply this technology in architecture model or some products prototypes making. This amazing skill has renovated the whole architecture industry. Imagine that we are able to design any freeform chairs or houses just with clicking of a button. Now, this great tech is not only used in architecture and product design industry. Recently I heard this skill has been used in some new fields I have never heard before - hearing aid industry.


The 3-D printing technology now has also being pioneered in the medical profession, especially in hearing aid industry. They used the method which called CAMISHA-computer aided manufacturing of individual shells for hearing aids. Following are the process of CAMISHA.

First, the engineer would make a mold based on the clients’ ear canal. Then they put the mold into a laser scanner to get the 3-D model of the clients’ ear, the necessary data for 3-D printing. Third, the engineer and technician would enter these data into the 3d printer, and this anonymous white box would use its laser beam to build up the shape of the real model layer by layer. Finally, we can get a finished prototype model which completey fits our inner ear canal.

In the past, those volume production hearing aid ear pieces could not work perfectly as these custom-made ear pieces, because it cannot perfectly fit the patient’s ear canal. However, if the patient wanted to make a custom-made ear pieces, it might cost him/her over ten thousand US dollar. Now, this problem has been solved by the emerging of 3-D printing technology. With the inserted microcircuitry, these 3-D printing ear pieces could help those people who suffer hear losing and it does not cost much. The patients just have to turn on the specific channel, the aid ear pieces could cut out all the other noises from the environment, make the patient only heard the particular sound. For example, if you want to listen to the music of stereo, just turn on the channel of the stereo, and the ear pieces would help you to separate all the other noises.

This emerging tech is precise, elaborating and inexpensive. Every products-ear shell is different from each other, and they are all sculptured of someone’s inner ear. Today, over 95% hearing aid ear pieces were made in 3-D printer, using the innovating technology- CAMISHA. As more and more people are going to suffer hearing loss, this new process of making ear piece is a gift from engineer. It is just as well that hearing aid technology is advancing so dramatically.

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