Nicholas Mycroft Christensen
Alabama
Nicholas Mycroft Christensen, 18, of Wetumpka, entered a computer science
project in the Intel Science Talent Search, describing his invention of a device
that outperforms traditional hearing aids. Nick's EarMeNow circuit board device
and algorithm can shift sounds to lower frequencies in real time. After testing
the device on 100 volunteers, he found that those with documented hearing loss,
like himself, had 25% or better word recognition. (Two could hear nearly 60%
better and some volunteers with normal hearing also benefitted.)
His new hearing aid consists of a microphone, circuit board, microprocessor and
head-phones, and Nick believes the device could be adapted for use in radios and
cell phones. His research, conducted mostly at home over a two-year period, was
inspired by his results from an earlier science project, for which he used a
pizza pan to make a Wi-Fi antenna that worked as well as a $100 dish antenna. At
Wetumpka High School, Nick heads the Science Olympiad team and is business
captain of the award-winning robotics team. Nick was born in Germany to Robert
and Libby Christensen, and he hopes to attend the University of Alabama or MIT.
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