facilitating the assessment and the rehabilitation of hearing function in real world conditions
An advanced audiological system for hearing professionals and scientists
FEATURES
Real life environments
The standard clinical audiometric is usually performed in a sound booth where real life sound conditions are poorly represented.
Yet, everyday sound environments are often a major factor impairing speech and sound perception. And this is especially true for hearing impaired people.
From the recording and reproduction techniques offered by the Immersion 360 system, it is now possible to place patients in real life sound environments for clinical auditory assessment or rehabilitation tasks.
360 degrees sound reproduction
The Immersion 360 system allows professionnals to use a a multitiude of sound stimuli such as pure tones, everyday sounds, noises, seech and soundscapes that can be presented in an immersive environment on 360 degres arc.
An unprecedented diversity of tests involving auditory perception such as sound localization and speech recognition in real life conditions is now possible with this system.
All in one and user friendly system
The Immersion 360 system is a software/hardware solution that has been thoroughly and carefully integrated over many years of research / clinical / enterprise collaboration.
A highly visual and intuitive proprietary operating software interface makes the system easy to operate. Users have access to functions and parameters that are all displayed on the main screen, so mastering them is quite easy.
OUR VISION
"All in one" solution and a new standard
Immersion 360 system is a highly integrated solution. All components are provided installed and calibrated to insure great measurement stability during years of everyday use. Electronic and mechanical parts are overspecified to allow solid performance in a long term.
This solution has been adopted in many clinical intallations situated in Québec, Montréal, Saint-Jérôme, Ottawa, Paris, Montpellier, Geneva and Toulouse.
Great flexibility and ease of use
All testing parameters are easily available; no need for fastidious searches in the user manual! All parameters can be saved in personnal settings and conveniently recovered with one mouse click.
Helpful results
The localization test results are safely recorded and easily retrieved. The localization results window shows a visual and helpful representation of success scores and azimuth errors.
Custom configuration that will meet your specific physical requirements
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Access to the Immersion 360 system is configured according to the specifications of your audiological booth or standard room;
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System height is electricaly ajustable with memorized positions between 60 and 130 cm. Such flexibility allow adaptation to subjects size. It can also be lowered on request to avoid any obstruction of the monitoring window when the system is not in use;
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We can create and add any custom stimulus or environment to meet special assessment or rehabilitation needs.
ABOUT US
Immersion Technology inc.
Immersion Technology inc. is an emergent company focused on audiological innovation. It relies on :
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many years of know-how in the field of designing software for hearing assessment and rehabilitation
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strong technical expertise
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excellent knowledge of clinical requirements
The CEO, Mr. Bastien Bouchard, is a long-time specialist in sound design, multimedia and educational technology. He has developed software dedicated to clinical audiology in the last 20 years.
" We started from a clean sheet to develop a new free field audiological system more polyvalent and with fewer compromises than what is available in the market. From the beginning, we focused on ease of use and realism of sound reproduction..."
RESEARCH AND
NORMALIZATION
The Innovation - Desjardins 2017 Prize from the Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec recognize the exceptional innovation brought by the Immersion 360 system and his contribution to a better hearing health in the community.
Research
The Immersion 360 system has been developed from conceptual, feasibility and normalization studies completed by Pr François Bergeron, researcher at CIRRIS and full professor at Université Laval (Québec).
Initial experiments completed in 2012 showed that altered capacities for speech perception in hearing impaired persons could be observed in a virtual environment despite an excellent performance in a standard clinical setting at a similar signal to noise ratio. More, changing the environment affected the performance, even when signal to noise ratios were kept constant.
Pr Bergeron completed his doctoral studies in biomedical sciences at the Université de Montréal. He then did a postdoctoral fellow in health technology assessment at the Agence d’Évaluation des Technologies et des Modes d’Intervention en Santé (Montréal) and the Agence Nationale d’Accréditation et d’Évaluation en Santé (Paris). His research activities are focused on assistive technologies for the hearing impaired, notably on cochlear implants.
In 2001, he participated in the establishment of the master's program in speech-language pathology at Laval University. As a full professor, he is responsible of teachings in anatomy, physiology, audiology and interventions for the hearing impaired. Pr Bergeron is a researcher associated with the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en réadaptation et insertion sociale (CIRRIS); he is also the scientific director of the Quebec cochlear implant program.
« With the Immersion 360 system it is now possible to incorporate the environmental factor in our experimental designs intending to assess the actual benefit obtained from hearing aid technologies. No other system offers this possibility. »
Normalisation
Subsequent work focused on the development and normalization of the Immersion 360 system. Data from this work served to define the normative values for sound localization and sentence recognition with the HINT and the AzBio in each environment. These values are included with the system.
Scientific publications related to Immersion 360 System
Professeur François Bergeron, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
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Faisabilité de l’évaluation des habiletés auditives dans un espace sonore virtuel.
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Assessment of auditory perception in a virtual soundscape.
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Étude prospective à visée descriptive, visant à évaluer l’impact de l’implant cochléaire sur les performances auditives et la qualité de vie des patients atteints de surdité unilatérale.
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Normalisation d’épreuves d’évaluation des capacités de reconnaissance de la parole et de localisation auditive dans un environnement sonore virtuel. (collaboration avec l'Université de Montpellier)
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Normalisation du système Immersion 360 auprès d’une population malentendante (collaboration avec l'Université de Montpellier)
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An Ecological Approach To Assess Auditory Perception
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Évaluer et prendre en charge l’enfant ayant un trouble auditif selon une perspective écologique.
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Normalisation d’environnements sonores dans le système Immersion 360 (collaboration avec l'Université de Montpellier)
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Realistic Efficacy Of Two Signal Improving Technologies For Unilateral Recipients Of AB Naida CI Q90 Sound Processor.
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Hearing assessment and training in immersive virtual reality; clinical model and validation with cochlear implant users.
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Projets en cours:
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Anatomy based cochlear implant fitting.
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Développement d’un appareil auditif protecteur dédié à la recherche sur les problèmes liés aux travailleurs malentendants œuvrant en milieu de travail bruyant.
Professeur Philippe Fournier, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
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An immersive ecological measure of noise-induced functional interference in adults with hyperacusis
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Validation des écouteurs intelligents (Airpods) dans la réduction de la gêne liée au bruit chez des locuteurs normaux-entendants
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Validation de l'utilisation d'appareils auditifs obturants dans la prise en charge audioprothétique de patients atteints d'hyperacousie
Professeur Mathieu Hotton, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
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Canadian Directory of Affordable Hearing Assistive Technologies and Development of New Metrics for Evaluating the Benefits of Next-Generation Hearing Technologies.
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Enquête sur les dispositifs d'écoute alternatifs nord-américains : caractéristiques et performances électroacoustiques.
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Effet des écouteurs intelligents sur la reconnaissance de la parole et la localisation sonore chez des personnes normo-entendantes.
SPECIFICATIONS
System components
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Portable computer (Windows 10)
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Physical hardware and electronics : Aluminum support, 8 speakers, 8 channels amplification and USB audio interface
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Control software
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Frequently used stimuli : pures tones, warble tones, everyday sounds. Normalised AzBio sentences lists are optionnal and subject to a separate licensing.
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Environments
◦ Automobile (with radio)
◦ Automobile (without radio)
◦ Highway traffic
◦ Street traffic
◦ Kindergarten
◦ Restaurant
◦ Cafeteria
◦ Garage
◦ Gymnasium run
◦ Gymnasium ball play
Software features
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User friendly user interface
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Choice of a single stimulus or a bank of stimuli in random sequence
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Stimuli audio sources selection (16 sources on 360 degrees for 22,5 deg. azimuth accuracy)
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Environment audio sources selection (8 sources on 360 degrees for 45 deg. azimuth accuracy)
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Independant level setting (in LAeq) for stimuli and environment
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Test sequence (random or predetermined source selection)
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Manual or automatic stimuli presentation during tests
Technical specifications
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Frequency response : ± 3 dB within 100 Hz - 14 kHz
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Maximum level (each driver) : 100 dB SPL
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Calibration : 1 dBA between speakers (pink noise at 80 dBA on response range)
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Amplifiers : Signal/noise ratio : 105 dBA (weighted); .005% THD 20 Hz-20 kHz @ 30W (8 ohm) ; Frequency response : 5 Hz to 72 kHz; Power output : 40w RMS
CONTACT
Contact info
For any question about the system and possible applications or to obtain a quote, please, feel free to contact us :
Bastien Bouchard
Immersion technology inc.
bbouchard@technologiesimmersion.com