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Case study

Newborn Hearing Screening for SonaMed

Our US-based Medical Team was commissioned by SonaMed Corp, a leading US supplier of hearing screening systems, to develop the interface between patient and PC for its Clarity System.

Screening of newborn children for hearing loss is now mandatory in many states in the USA. We worked with SonaMed to develop one of the first, and subsequently the most highly regarded, systems on the market.

The SonaMed Clarity System is the only newborn hearing screener to combine automated Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) and Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) technology in one easy-to-use solution: DPOAE measures the response of the newborn’s cochlea to an acoustic stimulus; ABR measures the newborn’s electroencephalogram (EEG) activity, which is altered in response to auditory stimuli.

Patented technology makes the Clarity System the only complete stand alone product complying with the National Institutes of Health (HIH) recommendations for newborn hearing screening.

While SonaMed had the necessary knowledge to develop the graphical user interface and the core signal analysis functions, it did not have sufficient in-house expertise to develop the vital interface between the patient and a PC.

We developed the entire patient interface module from initial specification through to manufacture. The module comprised:

• low noise programmable gain EEG Amplifier
• EEG Amplifier programmable with band-pass filtering
• EEG lead impedance measurements
• programmable gain Audio Amplifier
• low frequency digital signal analysis
• single chip embedded controller
• serial interface to the PC
• plastic enclosure

This modular design strategy enabled SonaMed to concentrate on algorithm development and product marketing, resulting in what is now a market-leading product. The SonaMed project is a good example of the way in which we work with our clients; providing first-class product development expertise to complement in-house resources. This project was undertaken at our US facility.

‘The complexity of the Clarity System meant that we could not easily source all of the skills in-house. Using Sagentia for electronics product development expertise has been so successful that we consider them to be part of our own team’.
- Bill Dolphin, President, CEO, SonaMed Corp

Case study produced with the kind permission of SonaMed. SonaMed Corp is located in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, and specialises in Bioelectric Digital Signal Processing.