3D printing has taken over the custom hearing aid market. Today, almost 100% of these machines are printed on 3D printers. The total number of 3D printed hearing aids in use is estimated to be over 10 million. Only the Swiss company Sonova, the world leader in hearing enhancement solutions, claims to have produced over 1,000,000 units in 2016. And it looks like this "revolution" was left without attention.
Why are you hearing about 3D printed hearing aids for the first time? To answer this question, you need to go back to the origins of these wonderful devices.
The principle of a hearing aid is that it picks up sounds from the outside world and then amplifies them in the ears of hearing impaired people, essentially making those sounds just louder. Modern hearing aids come in a variety of shapes and designs. But only custom made In-the-Ear (ITE) and In-the-Canal (ITC) designs use 3D printing technology. Others, including the more common behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids, are still being manufactured in the traditional way.
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To summarize, I would like to say that 3D printing technology is ideal for creating customized hearing aids. It only provides benefits and does not carry any risks or potential threats. Hopefully, this technology will soon gain widespread adoption, and this will help many hearing impaired people. A similar revolution is now taking place in dentistry and prosthetics. Not far off, and the transition to the "digital" otolaryngology.
Based on materials from 3DSourced
https://www.3dsourced.com/editors-picks/custom-hearing-aids-3d-printed/