Autodesk Names Cochlear, Creator of the Baha Hearing System, as Inventor of the Month for February 2009
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK) has named Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions, a division of Cochlear Ltd (Cochlear) and a global leader in the development and manufacturing of implantable hearing solutions, as Autodesk Inventor of the Month for February 2009.
Cochlear successfully used Autodesk Inventor software to develop a digital prototype of the Baha bone conduction hearing solution. The Baha system uses direct bone conduction to transfer sound to the cochlea, the auditory center of the inner ear. This method has the advantage of bypassing the outer and middle ear -- which might be blocked, damaged or otherwise impaired -- when transmitting sound vibrations to the inner ear. As a result, individuals with hearing loss can experience clearer sound in everyday situations like phone calls and group meetings.
The Inventor of the Month program recognizes the most innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community using Autodesk Inventor software -- the foundation of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. A digital prototype is a realistic 3D digital simulation of the entire end product that is used to design, visualize and simulate a product before it is built, reducing the necessity of constructing physical prototypes.
Precise Digital Prototyping
'To design the bone conduction implant and the external sound processor that constitute the Baha system, we need to be able to precisely design, engineer and manufacture parts on the scale of one hundred-thousandths of a millimeter,' said Daniel Radberg, senior design engineer and CAD manager at Cochlear BAS, which is responsible for the Baha product line. 'Autodesk Inventor is invaluable in helping us achieve that precision by giving us detailed 3D views of our products before we've built anything.'
Traditional hearing aids use air conduction to transmit sound through the ear canal. However, people with a damaged middle ear cannot benefit from this type of device. The Baha system, by contrast, uses a titanium implant in the skull bone behind the ear.
