Audiological Engineering

Audiological Engineering Corporation (AEC) was founded in 1982 by David Franklin and Loretta Franklin for the purpose of researching and developing practical aids for the deaf and hard of hearing, the primary focus being Tactile Aids. The tactile aid product line, TACTAID®, is used around the world by deaf children and adults. Audiological Engineer... ing Corporation is proud of its reputation for producing the highest quality tactile aids for the commercial market and for providing important, unique research in the tactile aid field. AEC provides advanced prototypes and technical support to leading audiological research facilities around the world. AEC continually incorporates the results of these independent studies into its own research programs to develop the most advanced and useful product possible. Starting in 1982, with the aid of grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, AEC has produced a number of tactile aids as well as other devices related to hearing impairment. In 1983, David Franklin developed TACTAID I, the first tactile aid small and practical enough to be useful in most daily situations. TACTAID I provided rhythmic and temporal (timing) information about sounds and was very useful for environmental sound awareness. It incorporated the company's patented Automatic Noise Suppression system that has been employed in all TACTAID models. TACTAID I continues to be used successfully worldwide. Three years later, Mr. Franklin developed Tactaid II, the first wearable two-channel tactile aid. Two channels provide additional frequency information about sounds and allowed greater speech recognition ability. Various speech sound differences (e.g., voiced vs. unvoiced consonants), became more apparent in the changing patterns of vibrations of the two channels. A few years later, Tactaid II+ further improved the user's ability to distinguish noise from speech. A seven-channel device, Tactaid 7, followed. Used primarily as a speech training aid with children, it delivers a more complex signal and ...Read More