One day in 2006, stuck in bumper-to-bumper Bay Area traffic, Amir Abolfathi had a eureka moment. Formerly vice president of R&D for Invisalign, a company known for transparent dental braces, he had recently been chatting with a friend who was working on hearing aids. Abolfathi knew that bone was a good sound conductor. What if he could somehow make a removable oral hearing aid—one that could channel sound from wearers’ teeth to their ear through the bones in their head?

That moment of freeway inspiration gave rise to the SoundBite, a device designed for sufferers of single-sided deafness, which strikes about 50,000 people every year in the U.S. After his friend, Michael Benninger, an otolaryngologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, told him it could really help to solve the problem, Abolfathi set about turning his idea into reality. The biggest challenge was miniaturization, so he opted for a piezoelectric actuator, which needs very little power to generate the vibrations that travel through bone. That allowed him to use a much smaller battery, making the entire insert compact enough to fit comfortably in the mouth.

Invention: SoundBite
Inventor: Amir Abolfathi
Cost: $19 million
Time: 4 years
Is It Ready Yet? 1 2 3 4 5

Made of acrylic, SoundBite snaps onto a user’s molars. A tiny microphone worn in the deaf ear wirelessly beams incoming sound to an electronic receiver in the molar insert,

which transmits sound waves from the teeth through the bones in the jaw to the cochlea, the part of the ear that processes sound. (Traditional hearing aids only amplify sound, so they don’t work for people with non-functioning cochlea.) The battery lasts for six to eight hours at a time and can be recharged in a wall outlet.

The best remedy for single-sided deafness currently on the market is a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA), which, like the SoundBite, uses direct bone conduction to deliver sound to the cochlea. But BAHA installation involves surgically implanting a titanium post into the base of the skull. Other noninvasive tooth-based systems have been attempted, but none was ever fully developed and brought to market.
The SoundBite restores hearing just as effectively as a BAHA but requires no surgery. Instead it can be popped in and out of the mouth like a retainer. In clinical trials that wrapped up in February, patients typically reported that it restored from 80 to 100 percent of their hearing in the deaf ear and that they scarcely noticed they were wearing it. Lawrence Lustig, the director of the University of California at San Francisco Cochlear Implant Center, is so impressed with the SoundBite that he says he’ll recommend it to people who would otherwise have to undergo surgery.

If the device secures FDA approval as anticipated, it will hit the market this summer for around $6,000. (Surgery for a BAHA can run well over $10,000.) Abolfathi’s company, Sonitus Medical, plans to negotiate with insurance providers to reimburse patients for at least part of the cost. Abolfathi is also investigating other applications for the technology, including wireless, water-safe MP3 players and stealth communication for intelligence personnel. But even if those don’t pan out, he’s satisfied to know that he’s already improved people’s lives. “One patient just e-mailed and told me, ‘I saw Avatar, and it was great. I hadn’t been to a movie in years.’”

Keep those inventions coming and be sure to send a prototype to me and I'll review it for you right here on dannisblog.

Danni~

You know that feeling right? You can focus better with one eye closed and you keep falling off the floor... Well, you may well have a drinking problem. Kidding, I'm sure you're fine. But if you ever have trouble getting your key in the door then you may want to check this amazing key hole out. I know I sure could have used this in college... and last night.

So, if the glass keeps missing your mouth, considering investing in one of these. And the next time your flying high and have a terrific idea for an invention be sure to video yourself explaining all about it, those are always fun to watch the next day. Send them to me danni@dannisblog.com and I'll be sure to review it on my next blog.

*hick*

Happy Inventing! - Danni~

Ok, this totally cracks me up! Whenever a TV product commercial plays I crack up during the parts where they show us what we're doing wrong and why we need the product. Come on people, have you had one of these ideas and didn’t get it to market first?

Track down a company to help YOU!

Also, bonus points and a shout out on my next blog entry to the person who can tell me what product the guy suspiciously unbuttoning his jeans at 13 seconds is in need of?? Enquiring minds need to know!

Do you enjoy taking long, meditative strolls in remote, forested areas alone? Do you speak fluent Ewok? If you answered yes, you might be more than a little strange, but you’re also a  candidate for the Rescue Balloon!

Designer Jaeseok Han wasn't fooling around when he created this compact kit — intended for hikers who get lost or injured in the wilderness and need to signal aerial search teams. It comes complete with a small, lightweight helium gas cylinder and a long, inflatable red balloon that can peer out from the tree canopy and flag down appreciative rescue workers (as well as passing Imperial Shuttles). Or simply take a dozen or so of these things with you and the next time you get lost blow the lot up and do a Balloon Boy to freedom. Go Falcon!

Since it doesn't bet your life on flare guns, cellphones and fancy GPS devices that can run out of ammo or batteries, I really do love the simplicity of this concept. So for the sake of seasoned adventurers and the navigationally challenged among us (I had a personalized chair at Disneyland Lost & Found throughout my childhood years), we hope the Rescue Balloon makes it to production someday.

You know that thing you've been thinking about? That one you know is a great idea just waiting to happen? Now's the time! Take it from Danni. Everyday you let that great idea slide is one day closer to somebody else grabbing that idea from you and making their first million. So let's get your idea patented and on it's way to market.

Love - Danni~

I knew Queen Elizabeth had the right idea! She's no fool.

Taylor Gifts has designed a Neck Traction invention that helps relieve neck pressure caused by pinched nerves, tension headaches, and/or osteoarthritis according to the website. For twenty bucks, you can have a stylish collar and no more pain. Sounds like a good deal to me. And if you stand in front of a matching blue color backdrop, you can fool the neighborhood kids into thinking your head is just floating above your body. Cool Halloween trick! Remember to consult your doctor before purchasing. It is not Dr. Danni, sadly. 

We can all use some medical inventions, so get a prototype going today. I need that constant throbbing pain in my right temporal lobe fixed; I have fondly nicknamed it, "the boyfriend."

Now, you can stab someone and knock them out at the same time. MadZone Marketing has developed the ultimate weapon, a 1.5 pound fork and knife set. This is the desperate housewife's dream-- a weapon that appears harmless, but could conk your lazy husband out. Then again, if he is lazy, he is probably already conked out in front of the TV. You may think that the purpose of putting a weight on a product is to help you exercise a particular body part. Not in this case, the weight may exercise your hand and arm muscles, but its main purpose is to prevent you from eating too much. Their theory is that if it gradually gets too hard to pick up your utensils to eat, you will eventually realize you need to slow down and stop eating too much. There is one little problem with this theory, it is called hands! Chicken fingers, fries, corndogs, hot dogs-- I think I found a loop hole.

And where is the spoon??? Okay, you guys got me, I will purchase the knife and fork lift to lose weight, but I am using a regular spoon to eat ice cream with hot chocolate, whip cream, and a cherry on top, deal? If you have an exercising invention that is as crazy as this, let me know. Now that my arm muscles have been worked out, I may need to tone the rest of my body. Hey, hey, stop thinking about my body and invent out there!

(For Raina)

ThermaHelm is a new type of motorcycle helmet, since it has a built-in cooling system to keep your brain nice and cool post-accident. The technology can save a motorcyclist life, since most motorcycle deaths occur when the brain swells after an incident and before the ambulance arrives. Basically two pockets, one filled with water, and the other filled with ammonium nitrate ignite to create a cooling effect to stop any swelling from happening.

This $490 invention will be available in the United Kingdom soon, and they are even in works to improve the design with a video camera, GPS, and Bluetooth included. Meaning, as you lie there with your brain on ice, you can replay the video to why this happened while talking to your mom. This is definitely an improvement in helmet design. In fact, it is quite amazing! The only thing that could make this more amazing would be a commercial with a watermelon staying deliciously chilled after it fell down. Did anybody else grow up with those bicycle safety videos that used watermelon, instead of childrens' heads, to show what happens when you don't wear a helmet (I'll give you the ending, it does not pan out well for the watermelon)? Such a classic!

Every time they take blood, I end up with thirty different holes and a bruise to remember the nurse by. Next time, I'm asking for the VeinViewer. Designed by Luminetx, this baby uses infrared technology as well as some technology they won't disclose (hm?) to find veins from the outside. Trippy, right? This will prevent physicians from poking you a hundred times trying to find your baby veins. I can't wait to see my veins from the outside! Do you think it is like fingerprints and therefore everyone's veins are different? Yea, I didn't think so either. BUT it would make a really interesting Halloween costume if you can somehow project your veins on the outside! Skeletons are out, veins are in! And I'm sure all the vampires out there are stoked about this invention.

According to research conducted at Northwestern University, diamonds help heal wounds faster. Amazing right? The phenomenon occurs since nanodiamonds bond effectively with insulin, which is used to treat nasty wounds.The scientist Dean Ho bonded insulin with nanodiamonds to create clusters that release insulin slowly (A good thing!) to more targetted areas (Second good thing!) without being evasive to the patient (Ding, Ding! We have a winner). The reason nanodiamond-insulin clusters can target infected areas more efficiently than just insulin by itself is because the nanodiamond-insulin cluster needs a base ph level for a reaction, and this base ph level is found only in infected tissue.  

And that kids, is your science lesson for the day! See diamonds aren't just a girl's best friend, they are everybody's best friend! Think of all the people this new procedure will help! Check out www.inventionresource.com if you have a brillant medical idea that will improve the lives of others, or if you just want to invent like me.

And I have to say it, will we be just as sparkly and beautiful as him?

Yea, I wish.

 (Photo courtesy of Twifans.com)

Beware, kids! Here is a medical advancement that allows parents to hold or display (it resembles art to me!) a three dimensional version of their unborn child. Developed by a student at Royal College of Art, this rapid prototyping technology uses ultrasound and MRI scans to create a life-size plaster model of a fetus. Similar to a printer, rapid prototyping prints layers and layers of plastic powder until a model is formed. 

It does seem like a cool idea, but somehow I can't stop picturing Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. Am I right? 

On the plus side, medical professionals believe this new technology will enable parents to better understand health problems with their unborn child that should be addressed in the early stages.

Still, could you imagine having your naked 3D fetus displayed in your mother's dining room for all eternity?

New medical inventions are always a good thing despite my pessimism-- I can't help it, it is Friday and I cannot wait to celebrate! But seriously, if you have an idea, please share. The world could always use new products!