AUTOMATED BEHAVIORAL HEARING TESTING DEVICE FOR INFANTS

关注听力障碍对儿童的影响 发展使听力评估成为例行公事 儿科护理的一部分。虽然商业市场关注的是 关于电生理程序的改进和 设备，行为程序，可能更多 适当地用在较大的婴儿和儿童身上 基本上被忽视了。这个项目的总体目标是开发一种 高效行为听力测试的计算机化仪器 基于视觉原理的婴幼儿 增强测听(VRA)。 第一阶段的具体目标是确定最优的方法 在最低限度内为婴儿获得听力图 时间到了。将为以下三种方法编写软件程序 听阈估计：临床VRA，参数 序贯检验估计(PEST)和随机决策 制作。这三个协议将在以下方面进行比较 阈值与标准测听一致，测试时间 和成本。实验装置将把整个过程 包括刺激的产生和随机激活 电脑控制下的多个加固机。建议数 系统有望提高精确度，降低成本 临床程序。

Concern about the effects of hearing impairment on a child's development is causing hearing evaluation to become a routine part of pediatric care. While the commercial market has focused on the improvement of electrophysiologic procedures and equipment, behavioral procedures which may be more appropriately used with older infants and children have been largely ignored. The overall goal of this project is to develop a computerized instrument for efficient behavioral hearing testing of infants and young children based on the principles of Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA). The specific aim of Phase I is to determine the optimal method of obtaining an audiogram for an infant in a minimum amount of time. Software programs will be written for three methods of hearing threshold estimation: clinical VRA, Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing (PEST), and stochastic decision making. The three protocols will be compared in terms of threshold agreement with standard audiometry, time for testing and cost. The experimental device will put the entire procedure including the generation of stimuli and random activation of multiple reinforcers under computer control. The proposed system is expected to improve the accuracy and lower the cost of the clinical procedure.