Page 39 - Fall2013

320 thousand persons have received a cochlear implant in one or both ears. But various estimates indicate that as many as 25 million persons worldwide could benefit from a cochlear implant. That means that only about 1 or 2 percent of the population who could benefit actually have received a cochlear implant.”
“The cochlear implant is a transformative technology that allows children to be mainstreamed into regular schools, adults to have a wide range of job opportunities, and for all recipients to connect in new and important ways with their families, friends, and society at large. The resulting human and economic benefits are immense. “
“In many parts of the world, cost is a barrier to wide- spread applications of the technology, even though the bene- fits ultimately far outweigh the cost. The principal expenses are in providing the appropriate medical infrastructure and care. The cost of the device also plays a role, but that cost is coming down and is not the dominant factor for most coun- tries. Several of us in this room are working to reduce or remove the cost barrier, and to improve hearing health care worldwide, which includes prevention, screening, and treat- ments in addition to cochlear implants.”
“This magnificent award will greatly increase awareness of how cochlear implants can enable severely and profound- ly deaf persons to realize their full potential in life, and that awareness will in turn facilitate further dissemination and development of this marvelous technology. Thank you for welcoming Graeme, Ingeborg, and me into the Lasker fami- ly, and thank you for the highly favorable tailwind you have
given us and our colleagues to do more! “
Blake Wilson is co-Director of the Hearing Research
Center at Duke University. He is also an adjunct professor in three departments at Duke: surgery, biomedical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering. Wilson helped establish the Duke Cochlear Implant Program in 1984, and he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering in 2007. Prior to his employment at Duke, he worked fulltime from 1994 to 2007 at the Research Triangle Institute (now RTI International),.
Starting in the late 1960s, Clark and Hochmair demon- strated that tiny electrodes could be placed at different loca- tions in the cochlea, or inner ear, and that different pitches could be produced through stimulation of the different elec- trodes. However, few patients using the early devices could understand speech without accompanying visual cues.
Then, in the late 1980s (while at RTI International), Wilson provided the next breakthrough by showing how the devices could yield more useful information from ever- changing auditory signals cascading across frequencies. His “continuous interleaved sampling” system made it possible for cochlear implant recipients to understand words and sen- tences with much greater clarity. It provided the basis for sound processing strategies that are now used widely, launch- ing a rapid expansion in the number of deaf and nearly deaf persons who have received a cochlear implant in one or both ears. Today, the large majority of cochlear implant users can talk on their cell phones and follow conversations in relative- ly quiet environments.
Collected Works of Isadore Rudnick
The Acoustical Society is pleased to make a special offering of a three disc
set of the collected works of Isadore Rudnick (May 8, 1917 – August 22,
1997), one of the Society’s most eminent members. This is the first of a
projected series, Collected Works of Distinguished Acousticians, that is being
developed by the ASA’s Committee on Archives and History. Future titles in
development include the works of Harvey Fletcher and of Leo Beranek.
There are three discs in the Rudnick set. The first disc contains reprints of Rudnick's papers from scientific journals. The second disc includes a montage of photographs of Rudnick with colleagues and family, Rudnick's prize-winning film “The Unusual Properties of Liquid Helium,” and a video of the Plenary session at the ASA's 100th meeting. The third disc is a video recording of the Memorial Session held at the 135th meeting of the ASA.
Orders can be placed directly with the Acoustical Society of America \\\[Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Quadrangle,
Melville, NY 11747-4502, Tel.: 516-576-2377; Fax: 516-576 -2377; Email asa@aip.org\\\]. Price is $50 each for members and $60.00 for nonmembers. An additional $5 for shipping and handling is required.
38 Acoustics Today, October 2013