Milestone 2

Milestone 2.1 - Project Plan

Team Roles

Software Development: Nicholas DiMeglio (Lead), Shady Kamel (Support)

Mechanical Development: Rohit Jayas

Electronic Development: Shady Kamel


Advisors

Professor George McConnell, Professor Mahmoud Al-Quzwini


Project Management

TinnX is using a structured shared Google Drive to keep track of tasks, a Gantt chart for responsibilities and deadlines, and meticulously organized folders and files. The shared drive will also house SOLIDWORKS files and revisions, audio files and samples, and any mathematics formulas needed. It currently also holds website resources, as well as the team's budget and expenses. For code storage and version control, TinnX will use GitHub. For communication, the team has a text message group chat and communicates frequently regarding project updates and ideas. Lastly, TinnX meets three times a week in person to conduct meetings and work on the project.


Software

For our minimum viable product (MVP), we will be using C/C++ to create a program that generates customizable tinnitus relief audio signals. We will also be using libraries to achieve the audio implementation we are after. Finding the best library will take some experimentation, which is mentioned in our test plan as we wait for project materials to arrive. This program will likely run on a PC and stream audio to our bone conduction headphones using Bluetooth.


Hardware & Electronics

Our MVP will use off-the-shelf bone conduction headphones to transmit the tinnitus relieving audio signals generated by our software. We will be using off-the-shelf over-ear headphones for our demonstration at the Innovation Expo. After completing our MVP, we hope to design and build our own custom bone conduction headphones for better functionality and battery life. This will require designing the housing in SOLIDWORKS, a printed circuit board (PCB) designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, two transducers, and other electronic components to ensure proper functionality.


Task Breakdown

Fall Semester

Minimum Viable Product

Spring Semester

Innovation Expo (April 26, 2024)

Milestone 2.2 - Concepts

TinnX developed five potential concepts for a tinnitus relief system. For a complete list of requirements, please refer to Milestone #1. Primarily, the customer shall be able to easily and safely use the device for extended periods of time, in all environments, to provide relief from tinnitus.

Concept 1

Concept 1 helps solve tinnitus by sending externally generated frequencies to the ear. By doing so, this will 


Concept 2

Concept 2 follows the same premise of concept 1, but instead will be done with bone conduction headphones. The process that takes place is as follows:

Concept 3

Concept 3 combats tinnitus by targeting damaged hair cells in the inner ear, a common cause of tinnitus. This method involves:

Concept 4

Concept 4 is similar to Concept 3 as it also targets damaged inner ear hair cells. This approach would narrow down the target market to customers who suffer from tinnitus and also have very sensitive hearing:

Milestone 2.3 - Concept Selection

TinnX first analyzed the proposed concepts on a surface level. One of the biggest limitations facing the project is that, since the team does not have a biomedical engineer, testing on humans is prohibited. After observing project limitations, as well as the project constraints including little time in the academic year and a small initial budget ($400), concepts 3 and 4 were eliminated. TinnX is determined to provide a product that puts the customer first and provides an accessible, safe solution to minimizing tinnitus. As a result, it is outside of the project scope, team abilities, and allowed difficulty to guarantee this promise when pursuing concepts like 3 and 4. TinnX targets an affordable solution, and a surgery of that caliber may prove unaffordable to many. This does not align with the mission statement.


This leaves us with concepts 1 and 2. The reason why the group decided to proceed with concept 2 instead of concept 1 is the untapped potential with the idea of bone conduction headphones. Tinnitus is an internal sound that a person hears, and as a result, would be very difficult for a device such as earbuds to help send frequencies to an eardrum to neutralize the tinnitus sound. Bone conducting headphones are a special product as they have the ability to transmit sound to a person without the need to go through the eardrums. The way that bone conduction headphones work is that they are able to sit on a person's cheekbones and vibrate the sound directly to the cochlea, bypassing the need of getting the signal through the eardrum. By doing so, a person will be able to hear the frequency from the bone conduction headphones as an internal sound and this will be able to help reduce the tinnitus frequency that a person hears. 

 

Furthermore, an in ear solution is dangerous. Tinnitus relief is required indefinitely, and having the customer's ears blocked all the time is not safe. The customer will not hear the environment around them, which is especially dangerous when walking in an area with cars present. Keeping the customer's ears open is the logical solution. Bone conduction is the only technology readily available to our team that will keep their ears open while still providing tinnitus relief.

Milestone 2.4 - Design

The following image is the system diagram for the TinnX minimum viable product. This is a very simplified system to enable proof of concept testing.

The following image is the process flowchart for the MVP.

Milestone 2.5 - Analysis

Hardware Specifications

For the hardware aspect of the design, this involves a myriad of components. The purpose of the hardware components that are involved is that it will house all of the electronics components, such as the wiring, transducers, and custom PCB's. By housing all of the electrical components, this will help in making sure all of the components are secured in place and will work accordingly. Additionally, there will be an emphasis on making an outer case that is durable and can last for long-term daily use. TinnX intends to have their customers use the device 24/7, and as a result, have worked on making sure that the casing is durable for long-term use. PETG will be used to 3D print the housing. Additionally, the product should work in all kinds of environments. Therefore, silicon weatherproofing will be applied to the inside of the housing to protect the electronics. A rubber cover will be used to protect the charging and data uploading port.

Software Specifications

The software required for the TinnX device will be built in C/C++, using external audio libraries. The best audio library will be selected after experimenting with the Shokz bone conduction headphones (refer to Test Plan). This software will have to interface with external physical controls, and obtain values to be used throughout the program. TinnX will not collect personal identifiable information (PII), so cloud services and APIs will not be used. It will run locally as it will eventually be contained within the bone conduction headphones. The prototype software will run on a laptop and stream to the Shokz headphones via Bluetooth.

Electronics Specifications

Firstly, an Arduino Pro Micro ATmega32U4 will be used as the microcontroller board for the external physical controls used by the ENT or audiologist. This board was chosen as the ATmega32U4 will make the controls recognizable as a human interface device (HID), providing flexibility when combining all of the elements of the tinnitus relief system. Most of the controls will be potentiometers with knobs to fine tune signal parameters. A durable housing will also be made for the controls. Next, a pair of Shokz bone conduction headphones is used for the prototype. Eventually, custom bone conduction headphones will be developed to optimize for battery life and specific functionality for the customer. When building this pair, two 8 ohm 1 Watt bone conductor transducers (with wires) from Adafruit will be used. A custom PCB will be designed in Autodesk Fusion 360 and will be sent to be manufactured. 

Budget Allocation Analysis

So far, TinnX has ordered Shokz bone conduction headphones. This purchase totaled $108, leaving $292.

After these future purchases, the remaining budget should be around $100.

Milestone 2.6 - Test Plan

There are many variables to account for when testing and ensuring real tinnitus relief. The following items are not all of the possible tests available to TinnX, as more testing opportunities may be presented in the future. Currently, the plan is to:

© TinnX™, Nicholas DiMeglio, Rohit Jayas, Shady Kamel 2023