News

For nearly 15 years, Desired Sensation Level (DSL) software has helped clinicians around the world provide infants and children with the gift of hearing.

It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Last year, a team of researchers created the newest version of DSL, developing the world’s first hearing aid prescription software for bone-conduction hearing aids, which, unlike conventional hearing aids, work on force, not sound pressure.

“These small devices send sound directly into the skull, bypassing the external ear and middle ear,” says lead researcher, Susan Scollie.

Originally developed by Scollie, Richard Seewald and colleagues at Western’s world-renowned National Centre for Audiology, DSL helps clinicians properly fit hearing aids and tune them to a patient’s specific needs. By applying these principles to bone-anchored hearing aids, clinicians can now improve hearing outcomes for many patients born without external ear structures, or who have been affected by certain infections or amputations.

Working in concert with NCA software engineer Steve Beaulac, and Bill Hodgetts, a Western alumnus and Program Director of bone conduction amplification at the University of Alberta and the Institute for Reconstructive Sciences in Medicine, Scollie developed algorithms that take hearing assessment information from each patient and prescribe recommended amounts of loudness and pitch shaping for their individual needs.

The project has already drawn industry attention, having been licensed by a local testing company, and a manufacturer in Denmark.

“We’ve had a long history of impacting clinical practice in hearing aid fitting, so we’re very happy to bring this type of evidence-based accuracy to the fitting of bone-anchored hearing aids,” Scollie says.

Dear clients, colleagues and supporters of WORLDiscoveries®,

Another year has come and gone and our team has seen remarkable success from our strategic decision to broaden our focus beyond just commercializing technologies developed by our partner institutions. Over the last three years we have identified a new way of doing things, creating a number of improved programs, annual events, and platforms that expands our organization’s impact.

Not only have we increased our number of active licenses to 148, a rise of 43 per cent since 2013, but identified new partners for our technologies, innovation leaders within the community, and new training opportunities to help shape the innovators of tomorrow.

At the Annual Vanguard Awards we celebrated the accomplishments within our community and through the Proteus Innovation Competition, encouraged others to get involved. We also saw the launch of the Innovation Ambassadors program, with 15 innovation leaders stepping up to offer their ideas, guidance, and expertise to community members seeking to commercialize their own inventions.

The Graduate Innovation Scholars program, in its inaugural year, supported nine grad students and gave them insight into the world of commercialization and knowledge mobilization. The Western Medical Innovation Fellowship acquired funding from Western’s BrainsCAN, securing the program’s future over the next seven years.

Finally, WORLDiscoveries Asia expanded to be a platform for institutions of research across Ontario, having received funding from the Ministry of Research, Innovation & Science and the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, strengthening our organization’s global influence.
Thank you for continuing to support and partner with us.

Lisa Cechetto
Executive Director, WORLDiscoveries