Siemens Hearing Instruments has released a number of innovative audiology devices aimed at improving workflow and reaching a wider range of care environments.

The company’s new audiometers and digital video otoscopes extend the choice available from one specialist point of contact, promising to simplify procurement, save clinical time and reduce costs.

New audiology devices now available from Siemens include:

• Otopod and Amplitude Audiometers – tiny, portable wireless audiometers suitable for use in the fitting room, home or bedside
• Kamplex PA5 Paediatric Audiometer – a free field audiometer for testing children’s hearing with one-handed operation
• a high-resolution USB Digital Video Otoscope, which links directly to a PC.

The new devices join Siemens’ existing range of audiology workflow solutions. A wider range of audiological accessories is also now available.

“Our single approach to providing a wide range of audiology workflow solutions gives audiologists more choice and specialist advice,” said Mark Laben, Product and Marketing Manager at Siemens Hearing Instruments.

“Healthcare departments and practices are facing increased pressures to invest wisely and redesign audiology workflow processes. By having workflow that integrates together, audiologists will have more time to spend with the patient on quality matters such as talking through fittings and answering concerns.”

Based in Crawley, West Sussex, Siemens Hearing Instruments provides digital hearing instruments and software, patient management systems and audiology equipment to the NHS and retail dispensers in the UK.

Insulin pumps and blood sugar monitors could be hacked into, putting diabetes patients at risk, a security researcher has found.

Speaking at the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas, USA, Jerome Radcliffe said that insulin control devices that are part of an electronic hospital or remote monitoring system can be remotely accessed and their settings changed – with potentially lethal consequences.

This could happen in the context of a personal attack or as a step in a wider hacking operation aimed at secure communication systems.

Scientists are developing ‘jammers’ to block hacking – but these may also block remote monitoring by clinicians, derailing the evolution of e-health.

Radcliffe, himself a diabetes patient, said that he had experimented on his own equipment and found the ‘secure’ data vulnerable to hacking. He commented that his reaction was one of “sheer terror”.

Other systems that could be vulnerable to attack include pacemakers, operating room monitors and ICU equipment. Hackers could not only stop these devices but actively take control of them.

Radcliffe said he had hacked into the remote control of his own insulin pump, using a USB device available from medical suppliers. He was able to access the operational data and change the settings.

Attacks of this kind could be carried out from any location within 200 feet of a patient. They may increase the security risk to public figures who use electronic medical devices.

Insulin pump