Component 2: Technical Application's Market

Task 1:

Company:Product:
Groove Industries Co. Wired Hands free Kit with Microphone and On/Off Switch (#CMS-136)
NexTagJVC HA-FX66R Noise-Canceling Earbuds




Task 2:

Sony Corporation was established in the 1940’s and is known for contributing to the world of science and technology with high-quality products. They make everything from headphones to computers. As of March 2007, Sony employed 163,000 people worldwide. The main goal of the company was "To experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public." Sony hoped to be a company that showed freedom, open up the minds of its engineers, update Japan’s culture with technological and manufacturing, and release more technology to institutions.
Sony Corporation



Task 3:

Many people like listening to their MP3 Players daily. They listen to it in the car, while shopping, walking around the neighborhood, or even on the bus on the way to school. What they do not know is that they are slowly damaging their hearing. To help this problem our group is designing a pair of headphones that turn off when your time limit for the amount of decibels you’re listing to has expired. When listing to music, many people turn their volume all the way up to about 110 to 130 decibels. This is much louder than what we should be listening to. So if a person has their volume up that high, after 30 minutes the MP3 Player would shut off. It would be able to turn back on after giving your ears a enough time to rest. After 30 minutes of 110 to 130 decibels of noise a day, a person shouldn't be listening to loud music, or noises if they do not want to damage their hearing.
Sound Exposure Information
Hearing Damage Information

Task 4:

Our team sent an email to the Etymotic Research, Inc., stating the following…

“Dear ETYMOTIC RESEARCH, INC.,

Hi, we are 9th grade students attending DCMST (Dearborn Center for Math, Science and Technology) and are participating in a competition know as "ISTF" (Internet Science and Technology Fair) . We understand that your company is dedicated to making ear friendly earphone/headphones, and that is exactly what we are trying to do. We have designed a pair of head phones that allows you to listen to your MP3 for a certain amount of time based on the volume level. After the time limit is over, the MP3 player will shut off and not be accessible until your ear has plenty of time to heal (preferably a day). It is not a design that we must put together and make it work, just a thought. If someone could evaluate our team's proposal and get back to us it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You for your time,

Walaa A., Jinan A., Brittany G”


The company was very cooperative and sent us the following e-mail later that day…

“Dear Walaa, Jinan and Brittany:

We think your idea is a good one. We know that more complex methods of limiting sound output are in progress, but we admire your design for its simplicity. In addition to protecting hearing, it could serve as a good training tool: Headphone users can learn to keep loudness below a certain level in order not to have their headphones turn off.

I have attached a chart that may be useful. There is a great deal of information on the Etymotic website for additional reference. http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20-ihp.aspx

A recently completed study (currently in preparation for publication) was conducted with 100 college students. The students were asked to choose preferred listening levels using headphones that did not seal the ear and with earphones (Etymotic 6i Isolator) that sealed the ear canal and blocked out noise. Results confirmed that when the earphones seal in the ear, preferred listening levels were lower (safer) because the subjects did not have to turn up the volume of the MP3 player to overcome outside noise.

Let us know how you do in the competition.

Best regards,

Gail Gudmundsen, Au.D., Audiologist
Director of Sales and Marketing
Etymotic Research, Inc.
61 Martin Lane
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
847-228-0006p 847-228-6836f
g_gudmundsen@etymotic.com
www.etymotic.com”