Automated Method for Measurement of Hearing Sensitivity

描述（由申请人提供）每年有数百万次听力测试， 在美国进行的各种原因，包括诊断耳 疾病，沟通功能评价，噪声监测效果， 耳毒性药物前瞻性研究和听力测试 艾滋病虽然有一个“标准”的听力测试方法，但规则模糊 定义明确，遵循松散。该项目旨在开发一个自动化的 一种测试听力的方法。它旨在实现类似的测试 结果与专家听力学家在标准化 方法，消除错误，提高效率，降低成本。的 方法保留了常规测听的显著特征， 被广泛接受的听觉心理物理学原理外侧掩蔽是 当测试信号可以被听到时， 耳朵除了使刺激的顺序和定时自动化之外， 提供质量指标，提醒听力学家潜在的错误， 患者因素或不适当的掩蔽水平。在第一阶段项目中， 将开发可测试的原型，初步测试将在 正常听力和听力受损的成年受试者，以及对 在初步评估的基础上，将制作样机。 拟定商业应用： 在美国，听力学家每年进行的听力测试数以百万计。本项目将开发的自动化方法具有标准化、提高效率、提高准确性和降低成本的优点。该方法预计将是一个软件附加到新的听力计和改造现有的听力计。在美国每年销售约1200个听力计，在美国以外销售另外800个听力计。由于该方法将使听力计的成本增加一个小的增量（约10%），因此预计采用率将很高。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Every year millions of hearing tests are conducted in the U.S. for a variety of reasons, including diagnosis of ear disease, evaluation of communicative function, monitoring effects of noise and ototoxic medications. prospective research studies, and fitting of hearing aids. Although there is a "standard" hearing test method, the rules are vaguely defined and loosely followed. This project is designed to develop an automated method for testing hearing sensitivity. It is designed to achieve similar test results to those obtained by expert audiologists while standardizing the method, eliminating errors, increasing efficiency, and decreasing cost. The method preserves the salient features of routine audiometry while applying well-accepted principles of auditory psychophysics. Contralateral masking is presented to the non-test ear whenever the test signal may be audible in that ear. In addition to automating the sequence and timing of stimuli, the method provides quality indicators that alert the audiologist to potential errors due to patient factors or inappropriate masker levels. In this Phase I project, a testable prototype will be developed, preliminary testing will be conducted on normal-hearing and hearing-impaired adult subjects, and modifications to the prototype will be made based on the preliminary evaluation. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Hearing tests conducted by audiologists in the U.S. number in the millions per year. The automated method that will be developed in this project has advantages of standardization, increased efficiency, greater accuracy, and reduced cost. The method is expected to be a software add-on to new audiometers and a retrofit to existing audiometers. There are about 1200 audiometers sold annually in the U.S. an additional 800 outside the U.S. Because the method will add a small increment (about 10%) to the cost of audiometers, the takeup rate is expected to be high.