Oticon Foundation, Somerset, NJ, has announced a DKK 6 million (US $1.1 million) grant to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) to fund a new research group in hearing diagnostics.The group will work closely with Interacoustics and the William Demant diagnostic team on open research projects in central diagnostic disciplines including electrophophysiology and wide band tympanometry otoacoustic emissions.
The Foundation’s newest grant builds on the close cooperation that already exists with the Technical Institute of Demark and the Oticon Foundation. The new research group supplies the natural diagnostic addition to the applied and basic research conducted by the Center for Applied Hearing Research, the Center for Acoustics and Micro Mechanics and the Oticon Center of Excellence, which are all heavily funded by grants from the Oticon Foundation.
The new research group will be based at DTU but will work collaboratively with Interacoustics in Assens, Denmark. Group members will include senior engineer James Harte, engineer Kristian Gøtsche Rasmussen, and audiologist Sinnet B. Kristensen, all employed in William Demant’s diagnostic team. They will report to Lars B. Rasmussen of DGS, and Bue Kristensen of Interacoustics.
Members of the group will also act as advisors, guest teachers, and discussion/cooperation partners to DTU’s section for Hearing Systems, which is led by Professor Torsten Dau.
The Oticon Foundation is also one of the major sponsors of the newly opened Center for Acoustic-Mechanical Micros Systems at DTU. The new center will focus on the interaction between acoustics and mechanics and is the first in the world dedicated exclusively to this area.
“With our world-class research capabilities and ability to educate PhD and Masters-level students through the center, we will be capable of strengthening Danish industry’s leadership position in products where the interaction between mechanics and acoustics play a leading role,” says Jakob Sondergaard Jensen, center leader. “And of course, this will include hearing instruments.”
Founded in 1957, the Oticon Foundation sponsors social and educational programs, publications, conferences, cultural activities and campaigns – both for researchers, hearing care professionals and the general public. The Foundation’s statutes mandate that income be used to support the needs of hearing-impaired individuals as well as organizations that serve people with hearing loss. Income is derived through the Foundation’s ownership of the majority of shares in the Oticon Company.