Project description
Innovative hearing protection tool
Environmental noise is a big contributor to stress and cardiovascular disease, in addition to causing hearing loss and other debilitating hearing-related issues (like hyperacusis and tinnitus). Hearing damage is the most common occupational injury in the EU and 50 % of reports to Norwegian labour authorities are related to noise. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), noise is the second largest environmental cause of health problems. Existing hearing protection devices (HPDs) have many disadvantages because they are difficult to wear, have unnatural sound, are incompatible with other personal protective equipment or isolate workers, increasing the risk of occupational accidents. The EU-funded MINUENDO INDUSTRY project proposes innovative earplugs that are comfortable to wear and have smart alerts that warn the user of dangerous sound levels. The earplugs preserve a natural sound quality, increasing 3-dimensional experience and situational awareness.
Objective
The industrial sector exposes workers to very high levels of environmental noise that causes serious health problems such as hearing loss, tinnitus, stress, cardiovascular disease, etc. Many of these health problems are easy to avoid, however once they have occurred, they are irreversible. Moreover, there is a direct relationship between loud noises and labour accidents in the industry, since loud sounds are lowering situational awareness. Current Hearing Protection Devices (HPD) have many disadvantages. Firstly, many HPD are bulky, difficult to wear, incompatible with other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and hinder manoeuvrability. Secondly, they overprotect workers, which results in worker isolation and further increases the risk of occupational accidents. Many HPDs have a “hear-through” function using an external microphone, electronics and loudspeakers, but the reproduced sound is unnatural, speech is difficult to understand, and they lack the 3-dimensional experience which results in poor situational awareness. To solve the aforementioned problems, we are developing Minuendo® Industry which the world’s first HPD that automatically adjusts noise attenuation to safe and suitable sound levels and thus avoids overprotection. At the same time, Minuendo® Industry preserves a natural sound experience without any distortion. This patent-pending adjustment technology allows for a natural acoustic path and the system gives a smart alert in case of danger. Furthermore, the form factor is comfortable, together with exceptionally long battery life. The global Intelligent Hearing Protection Device market was valued at €366M in 2018 and is expected to be €1.18B by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 15.9%. We aim to obtain 2.2% of the market through established distribution network and direct sales by 2026. The proposed project is highly profitable and generates accumulated sales of 75.12 MM€, IRR of 83.79%, ROI = 6 by 2026, with a payback period of 2 years.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine cardiology cardiovascular diseases
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine otorhinolaryngology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-2b - SME Instrument (grant only and blended finance)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
0153 OSLO
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.