Dental Innovations Debuts New Hearing Health Device for Dentists
Electronic Earplug for Dental Professionals Both Automatically Protects and Allows for Natural Hearing
Boston, Mass. — Dental Innovations’ revolutionary DI-15 Electronic Earplug made its debut at the Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM) last week at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City receiving an enthusiastic response from attendees. The GNYDM is considered the premier Dental event in the U.S, with over 54,000 attendees and 1,500 technical exhibits.
At the meeting, Dental Innovations staff explained to attendees that exposure to high-frequency equipment noise is unavoidable for dental professionals, and over a period of years, this exposure can gradually damage the hair cells in the inner ear, producing tinnitus and hearing loss. A number of published studies show poorer hearing in dental professionals compared to non-noise exposed medical professionals. The American Dental Association recommends the use of hearing protection when using dental equipment.
Advanced circuitry in DI-15 electronic earplugs automatically changes output levels as sound input levels change, which means that as environmental sound becomes unsafe, the earplugs automatically lower sound to safer levels. They then provide natural hearing when sound levels are safe and there’s no need to remove the earplugs to hear clearly.
The DI-15 electronic earplugs were developed for Dental Innovations by Etymotic Research Inc., recipient of the prestigious Safe-in-Sound™ award for pioneering technical expertise and innovation in hearing loss prevention, awarded jointly by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Hearing Conservation Association. Dental Innovations is a Boston, MA-based company focusing on issues confronted by dentists during daily practice.
“One of our first questions was how can we reduce the chronic annoyance of the dental hand piece, suction, and laboratory sounds, without blocking our communication with patients and staff? We sought to provide a solution to this serious, yet unaddressed occupational hazard. "We have too many colleagues who have acquired hearing loss over years of practice, and wanted to prevent that from happening,” said Dr. Sam Shamardi, periodontist and founder of Dental Innovations."
The DI-15 earplugs are "active" earplugs powered by small batteries, which means that they restore soft sounds that are lost when its eartips seal off the ear canals, and automatically activate and attenuate when protection is needed. These high-fidelity earplugs contain high-definition transducers: balanced-armature drivers, high-sensitivity microphones, and advanced adaptive compression signal processing. The bandwidth (40 Hz - 16 kHz) is unprecedented, and the sound quality exceeds that of all known electronic earplugs and all modern digital hearing devices.