SensAble tech powers award-winning project

SensAble Technologies, Inc, a leading provider of touch-enabled modeling solutions and haptic devices, announced that its customer, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), a publicly-funded research partner to Ohio universities and industries, has won national recognition for its Virtual Temporal Bone Project, which utilizes a SensAble PHANTOM haptic device. SensAble is based in Woburn.

The system, developed by OSC in partnership with Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University Department of Otolaryngology, received the prestigious Dr. Frank H. Netter Award for Special Contributions to Medical Education from the Vesalius Trust for Visual Communication in Health Sciences during the annual meeting of the Association of Medical Illustrators, held July 16-20, in Indianapolis.

The Virtual Temporal Bone simulator creates a true-to-life experience encountered in ear surgery. The temporal bone contains the structures for hearing and balance, and the simulator allows future surgeons to practice delicate surgical drilling techniques on a computer-based teaching system instead of cadavers or as apprenticeships in operating rooms. A multi-institutional validation study is now underway to determine if surgical residents taught by this simulator achieve better surgical results compared to traditional methods.

The system's realism is enhanced with a SensAble PHANTOM haptic device, which allows surgeons to "feel" the surgery they are performing, as well as see and hear it. SensAble's device and accompanying software employ force-feedback technology to literally push back on the trainee's hand as they look through a binocular viewer that replicates the view that a surgeon would see through a microscope during surgery. Drilling sounds are then modulated based upon the pressures and area of bone being removed.