NHS Trusts working together to help young children hear

Two NHS Trusts are developing a new device that could help children suffering from glue ear.

Glue ear occurs when the ear becomes filled with fluid, preventing the ossicles from amplifying sound for the inner ear.

Experts from Cambridgeshire Community Services (CCS) and Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Trusts are working together to adapt a brand of sports headphones so young people with glue ear can hear better.

Unlike traditional headphones, this pair sits on the cheek bones and contains a tiny mechanism that vibrates when it picks up a signal from a remote microphone. The process – known as bone conduction – uses vibrations which travel along the cheekbone, skipping the middle ear before arriving in the inner ear to be interpreted as sound.

CCS’s community paediatrician, Dr Tamsin Brown and medical engineer, Cara Cooper, from the CUH’s Clinical Engineering Department are working together on the project alongside other academic and health colleagues.

The work is being funded by Cambridge University Health Partners with a pilot study being carried out with support from Cambridge Hearing Trust, Health Enterprise East, the British Society of Audiology, BAPA and Health Education East of England.

The study will include around 20 young people and will report in Spring 2018 with a support submission for classification as a medical device. The developers are aiming to launch the headset in late 2018.

By the age of 10, 80% of children have had one experience of glue ear. However, 95% of cases are quickly resolved meaning that treatments are only offered after a waiting period of up to 18 months. This extended period can potentially lead to speech and language problems.

Mrs Cooper spoke about the project at the latest Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) conference in Surrey where she picked up the President’s Prize for best oral presentation.

Cooper said: “As clinical engineers we are delighted to collaborate on this worthwhile project, which is a good example of horizontal innovation – the process of adapting an existing product for a new application.

“Of course the children like the headphones not only because they can enjoy things like story time with mum and dad, but because they look sporty and come in cool colours like blue, green and bright pink!”

Dr Brown added: “Watchful waiting is a very sensible approach, but it can be a long and frustrating time for children and impact on language development. We wanted to find a solution to that.

“Collaborating with the Clinical Engineering Department was a great success and, with the help of other organisations too, we have innovated with what we believe is a really practical and cost-effective solution.”

Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, Executive Director at Cambridge University Health Partners, said: “Cambridge is a city of ideas and innovation where people work together to find solutions to problems and help change lives for the better. This project is great example of this tradition and how collaboration can take an idea from the drawing board to the patient – turning possibilities into better healthcare. We look forward to seeing positive results coming out of the study ahead of the project launching later next year.”