CIEM- Digital manufacturing-hybrid iem - Page 2

That looks pretty awesome for DIY.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZo2 

If CIEM manufactures start using similar technology, they can reduce the highly skilled manual work and also its possible to do it in different locations worldwide and not depend on shipping the impressions across half of the world.

This will also increase accuracy and minimize errors in manufacturing.

In order to make this work, companies need to also invest in a 3D scanner as well. Unless they're established, major companies with a large enough cash flow, they may not have the financial resources to invest in both a scanner and prototyping machine. Conversely, a UV curing machine is much more affordable, AFAIK (think dental clinics). Companies with those resources, i.e. UE, or hearing aid manufacturers, already have these machines. Theirs is SLA, but it's similar in concept.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, this type of manufacturing precludes the possibility of special color/cosmetic treatments. Nevermind clear canals; if they want to do something like what Heir Audio does with in-shell gold flakes, or swirled colors like Westone, this kind of manufacturing would be impractical, as it'd take as much time to prepare the block of acrylic for lathing as it does for a traditional method.

I think part of the appeal of customs is that it is painstakingly hand-made, and it has near infinite cosmetic possibilities. I don't know how many people would appreciate their customs being churned out by machine. Of course, there are going to be companies that do take advantage of this type of process. I believe Aurisonics is such a company.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomscy2000 

 

In order to make this work, companies need to also invest in a 3D scanner as well. Unless they're established, major companies with a large enough cash flow, they may not have the financial resources to invest in both a scanner and prototyping machine. Conversely, a UV curing machine is much more affordable, AFAIK (think dental clinics). Companies with those resources, i.e. UE, or hearing aid manufacturers, already have these machines. Theirs is SLA, but it's similar in concept.

 

Second, and perhaps more importantly, this type of manufacturing precludes the possibility of special color/cosmetic treatments. Nevermind clear canals; if they want to do something like what Heir Audio does with in-shell gold flakes, or swirled colors like Westone, this kind of manufacturing would be impractical, as it'd take as much time to prepare the block of acrylic for lathing as it does for a traditional method.

 

I think part of the appeal of customs is that it is painstakingly hand-made, and it has near infinite cosmetic possibilities. I don't know how many people would appreciate their customs being churned out by machine. Of course, there are going to be companies that do take advantage of this type of process. I believe Aurisonics is such a company.

Mhm.   I'm incredibly interested by the sound Aurisonics offers and turned off by their aesthetics of the base model.

This kind of practice has been used before, in fact the hearing aid industry went buzzing quite a bit when it first came out. However they found out that in order to ensure isolation, the shell has to be tailored here and there. Having an exact image of the impression doesn't actually isolate as much as a 'deformed' one. Hence the common use of the traditional technique.

And as someone already mentioned above, cost doesn't justify it when it comes to small size business. Very cool machines though.

yep there are those as well. but if you try asking any hearing aid company the amount of refit work they have to do a week far surpasses what a machine can offer, and buying multiple of them is out of the question.

I'm not bashing the new tech here. It's just that there are reasons companies prefer the old school way.

Pretty cool and looks like fun but it's a lot harder to get all those drivers to play nice and sound like one source than many may think. Should be a great learning experience but not something I would suggest to market unless there were some very specific guidelines like phonak or others provide. Basically, vent and filter selection to taste. Not much to change in a crossover once it's right and you have an optimum blend at a good frequency. When using a dynamic with a BA, generally the ba is mounted in front of the dynamic and will mismatch arrival times at the overlap. Probably subtle at the frequencies involved but likely audible.

I voted multiple BA. I think if I tried a hybrid, I may side mount the dynamic and then mount the BA next to it to try and time it up.

For people interested: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010448511001345