Audio-Vestibular Testing for Bedside/Other Applications

描述：(改编自申请者摘要)：一种潜在的有效方法 限制或预防药物引起的耳蜗性和前庭耳毒性的方法是 在治疗期间进行监测。然而，实用、经济实惠、监控 由于不切实际的工具，项目很难建立。当前 实践也倾向于忽视平衡系统。研究和技术 由匹兹堡大学的研究人员利用最近开发的 听觉和前庭系统的客观测试。耳声发射 [OAEJ测试、仅头部旋转测试[HORT]和高频[HFI 听力测试被成功地转移到一个完全便携的平台上 第一阶段的床边检测结果是正常和临床受试者的样本 似乎是有效和可靠的。还有进一步改进的空间 与企业合作伙伴智能听力系统合作，带来 重量轻，便携式，音频前庭测试系统推向市场。 拟议的第二阶段工作将把这些进步移植到笔记本电脑上 具有通过通用串行总线技术的外设接口的平台 实现更大的设计能力/灵活性。此外，还包括以下内容 对该系统提出了以下改进意见：(1)改进了耳声探头 系统和相关硬件以实现更高的性能 失真产物耳声发射测试和测听，包括高频 两种测试方式的能力，通过相同的探测系统；(2)纳入 视频红外眼科成像技术取代眼电成像技术的应用 提高可靠性和易用性；(3)实施几项创新 旨在为最终用户和总体用户友好性提供故障保护。 这种新的“测试版”(投放市场前)样机的性能将彻底 在正常对照和临床受试者的大量样本中进行测试。 建议的商业应用： 这项研究将制定便携测试耳蜗和前庭功能的规范。这些结果将导致一种成本效益高的仪器的商业化生产，用于监测药物引起的耳毒性，并随着未来的发展而得到更广泛的应用。潜在市场包括医院和其他医疗设施。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's abstract): A potentially effective way of limiting or preventing drug-induced cochleo- and vestibulo-ototoxicity is monitoring during treatment. However, practical, cost-effective, monitoring programs are difficult to establish due to impractical instrumentation. Current practices also tend to neglect the balance system. Research and technology generated by University of Pittsburgh investigators utilizes recently developed objective tests of both auditory and vestibular systems. Otoacoustic emission [OAEJ testing, head-only rotation testing [HORT} and high-frequency [HFI audiometry were successfully transferred to a fully portable platform for bedside testing in Phase I. Results in samples of normal and clinical subjects appear to be valid and reliable. There is room for improvement via further collaboration with corporate partner, Intelligent Hearing Systems, to bring a light weight, portable, audio-vestibular test system to market. The Phase II work proposed will port these advancements to a notebook computer platform with peripheral interface via Universal Serial Bus technology to achieve greater capability/flexibility of design. In addition, the following improvements to the system are proposed: (1) enhancements of the ear-probe system and related hardware to achieve improved performance with distortion-product OAE testing and audiometry, including high frequency capabilities for both test modalities, via the same probe system; (2) inclusion of video-infrared oculography technology to replace electro-oculography for improved reliability and ease-of-use; (3) implementation of several innovations directed toward fail-safes for the end-user and overall user-friendliness. Performance of this new "beta-test" (pre-market) prototype will be thoroughly tested in substantial samples of normal-control and clinical subjects. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The research will develop specifications for portable testing of cochlear and vestibular function. Results will lead to the commercial production of a cost-effective instrument for such applications as monitoring of drug-induced ototoxicity and even broader applications with future development. The potential market includes hospitals and other health care facilities.