In late 2009, Audiological Engineering Corporation closed. Audiological Engineering Corporation is the world's largest developer and producer of tactile aids-- portable, personal devices for facilitating communication of persons who are severely hearing impaired or deaf. Tactile aids are used primarily by individuals who are unable to use or do not want a cochlear implant. Benefits from a tactile aid include: assistance with lipreading, speechreading, auditory training, speech production, speech reception, oral deaf education, and environmental sound awareness. Tactile aids are also used for pretraining for cochlear implants. The firm has been supplying vibrotactile aids for over 15 years. Products have evolved from the original Tactaid 1 to our current models-- Tactilator (now available in its new smaller form, LTD)and Tactaid 7. The differences in these products allow the user to choose the one most appropriate to his or her needs, whether that be general sound awareness, speechreading assistance, or auditory/verbal training.
