C-DAC has won the NATIONAL AWARD FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, 2012 instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India. under the category : BEST APPLIED RESEARCH / INNOVATION / PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AIMED AT IMPROVING THE LIFE OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. The award will be handed over by the President of India at a function to be held at Vigyan Bhavan on Dec 3, 2012.

The award is for the Digital Programmable Hearing Aid TARANG along with its programming ecosystem SHRUTHI, designed and developed by the Hardware Design Group of C-DAC, Trivandrum. TARANG has advanced features complying to IS/IEC standard. Using multi-channel signal processing, it supports multiple listening programs and Wide Dynamic Range Compression, resulting in improved performance, comparable with imported units costing ten times more. Due to the programmable feature, an Audiologist can minutely customise TARANG using SHRUTHI to match the hearing profile of mild, moderate and profound hearing impaired persons with sensorineural hearing loss. C-DAC designed an Application Specific System-on-Chip (NAADA) which integrates a 32-bit microprocessor along with embedded signal processing functions. This has also resulted in reduction in the product cost, and increased reliability and battery life, thereby making it more affordable to the hearing impaired millions in our country.

The successful development of this product has enabled C-DAC to generate know how in the domain-specific aspects of human hearing and expertise in the challenges of designing complex-compact-cost effective electronic products for high-volume production. Besides continuing with developments in hearing aid technology, C-DAC plans to embark on design of many more medical electronics products and systems addressing various disabilities of the common man.