Cochlear Luere

The goal of this project was to together with Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB develop a new cleaning tool for their Baha‐systems. Cochlear BAS AB is a daughter company to Cochlear Limited based in Sydney, Australia. Cochlear BAS AB is situated in Gothenburg and with its 150 employees develop and manufacture the Baha‐system. Baha is a bone anchored hearing aid which involves a minor surgery placing a titan implant, or abutment in the skull bone behind the client’s ear. By placing a sound processor which converts sound into vibrations on the abutment which then acts as a pathway for the vibrations to reach the skull and finally the cochlea giving clients improved hearing. Due to the fact that the skin never really fuses with the abutment daily cleaning is required of and two centimeters around the abutment. Today Cochlear BAS AB offers its clients a toothbrush with extra soft tip as cleaning tool. The goal is to cover today’s cleaning need with a, for the market, new product which fulfills all requirements set on the product by Cochlear BAS AB. The group started by gathering lots of information of and about the Baha‐system as well as different types of cleaning methods used today. Creative methods were used to generate ideas on solving the problem. Four different concepts where put together based on all the information gathered, they were: 1. Brush – A reengineering of today’s cleaning tool. 2. Spray – Clean the abutment with a spray in an enclosed system. 3. Ultrasonic cleaning – Also called the electronic brush. 4. Topz – An easy to use and hygienic alternative. These concepts were then presented to the company where they were evaluated together with the group and a decision was made to continue with the ultrasonic cleaning concept. The decision was followed by another information‐ and idea generating phase and the hunt for components was started. The piezo ceramics, the component creating the vibrations, was proven very difficult to find but the group were finally able to place an order of 3 pieces at a Japanese company through a contact in Sweden. Together with a teacher in electronics from school the other necessary components for the prototype were identified and ordered from ELFA. This concept offers a cleaning tool which cleans efficiently and gently with ultrasonic technology in a compact en easy to use package. Ultrasonic cleaning is effective since it reaches in all nooks and crannies but is mild at the same time, it could even help heal the skin around the abutment. The product has a round shape and an attractive exterior with simple and smart functions built into it. On and off with the entire top of the product which doubles as a button. The cleaning process itself could be as follows: The easy-to-use device is filled with gel or another medium in cup on the bottom of the product, the cup is then placed over the abutment and you start the device and let it run for about 30 seconds. After it’s done you remove the cleaning device and you rinse or towel the area around the abutment dry. All the dirt is flushed away with the gel and the abutment and the area around it is left clean