Rapid screening, threshold, and diagnostic tests for evaluation of hearing
First Claim
1. A method of performing an automatic and rapid auditory screening test on a patient, the method comprising:
- a. acoustically presenting at least one modulated noise stimulus at a specific intensity to at least one ear of the patient;
b. recording response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to the at least one stimulus;
c. performing signal analysis on said response data to generate result data;
d. evaluating the result data using at least one statistical technique to determine the presence of at least one auditory steady-state response; and
, e. providing a pass/fail test result which indicates whether said patient has passed or failed said screening test.
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Abstract
A rapid screening, threshold, and diagnostic tests for evaluation of hearing includes techniques that are particularly suited for rapid objective hearing screening and evaluation of newborns or other patients who are unable or unwilling to provide reliable subjective responses. The hearing tests may be frequency specific or may evaluate overall hearing ability without special focus on frequency-specific loss. The tests involve the use of novel stimuli, signal processing, signal analysis, and statistical techniques, including the use of ramped stimuli and evaluating the changes that these stimuli evoke in the individual'"'"'s brain activity at different moments in time.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A method of performing an automatic and rapid auditory screening test on a patient, the method comprising:
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a. acoustically presenting at least one modulated noise stimulus at a specific intensity to at least one ear of the patient;
b. recording response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to the at least one stimulus;
c. performing signal analysis on said response data to generate result data;
d. evaluating the result data using at least one statistical technique to determine the presence of at least one auditory steady-state response; and
,e. providing a pass/fail test result which indicates whether said patient has passed or failed said screening test. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 39)
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11. A method of performing an automatic and rapid hearing threshold test on a patient, the method comprising:
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a. acoustically presenting at least one transient stimulus at a rapid periodic rate to at least one ear of the patient;
b. recording response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to the at least one transient stimulus, wherein several epochs of response data are recorded and the at least one transient stimulus is presented at a periodic rate that provides an inter-stimulus interval that is a sub-multiple of an epoch length;
c. performing signal analysis on said response data to generate result data;
d. evaluating the result data using at least one statistical technique to determine the presence of at least one auditory response, wherein said evaluating comprises evaluating the result data using a statistical technique to determine the presence of at least one auditory steady-state response, said statistical technique comprising a significance series and statistical conditional criteria of at least one of an absolute count, a consecutive count, and a relative count; and
e. providing a pass/fail test result which indicates whether said patient has passed or failed a threshold hearing test.
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12. A method of testing auditory function of a patient, the method comprising:
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a. acoustically presenting at least one ramp stimulus to at least one ear of the patient;
b. recording response data epochs of ramping evoked response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to said at least one ramp stimulus;
c. classifying said response data epochs into accepted response data epochs and rejected response data epochs, said response data epoch being classified as rejected response data epochs if said response data epoch fails in meeting a homogeneity criteria;
d. performing signal analysis and time-frequency analysis on said accepted response data to generate result data; and
,e. using the result data to compute the subject'"'"'s threshold for said at least one ramp stimulus. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 25, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36)
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20. A method for performing a Multiple Intensity Stimulus Test for rapidly evaluating auditory function of a patient comprising:
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a. acoustically presenting at least two periodic acoustic stimuli of different intensities to at least one ear of a subject;
b. recording steady-state response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to the at lest two periodic acoustic stimuli;
c. performing signal analysis on said response data to generate result data, and d. using the result data to statistically evaluate the presence of steady-state response to at least said at least two periodic acoustic stimuli; and
e. providing at least one of the following;
a pass/fail result for a screening test and an estimate of the patient'"'"'s hearing threshold.
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21. A system for performing an automatic and rapid screening test on a patient, the system comprising:
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a. means for acoustically presenting at least one modulated noise stimulus to at least one ear of the patient, b. means for recording steady-state response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to said at least one modulated noise stimulus;
c. means for performing signal analysis on said steady-state response data to generate frequency domain result data;
d. means for statistically evaluating the frequency domain result data to determine the presence of at least one auditory steady-state response; and
,e. means for providing a pass/fail result which indicates whether said subject has passed or failed said screening test.
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22. A method of testing auditory function of a patient, the method comprising:
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a. acoustically presenting at least one ramp stimulus having a selected intensity range to at least one ear of the patient;
b. recording response data epochs of ramping evoked potential response data related to the patient'"'"'s response to said at least one ramp stimulus;
c. classifying said response data epochs into accepted response data epochs and rejected response data epochs, wherein a response data epochs is classified as rejected if said response data epoch fails in meeting a homogeneity criteria;
d. performing time-frequency signal analysis on the acceptable response data epochs to generate result data, and e. using said result data to compute an estimate of said patient'"'"'s threshold for at least said one ramp stimulus. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 55, 56)
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40. A method of testing auditory thresholds according to a Conditional MASTER Screening Test, the method comprising:
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a. presenting at least three acoustic stimuli to at least one ear of a patient;
b. recording SS-AEP data epochs related to the patient'"'"'s response to the at least three acoustic stimuli;
c. classifying said SS-EP data epochs into accepted epochs and rejected epochs on the basis of selected criteria;
d. processing the accepted epochs to determine which SS-AEPs are statistically present;
e. repeating steps a-d until a specified criteria have been met; and
f. providing a pass result if at least a specified number of SS-AEPs were statistically present and a fail result if less than a specified number of SS-AEPs were not statistically present. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of optimizing modulation frequencies used in an audiometric test that provides at least one modulated stimulus to evaluate the auditory system of a patient, the method comprising:
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a. performing a modulation optimization test (MOT) to produce result data;
b. analyzing the result data to derive at least one modulation rate with SNR characteristics meeting selected criteria; and
,c. using the at least one modulation rate in an objective auditory test on the patient. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method of performing a R-AEP Fine Structure Test to evaluate auditory system of a patient comprising:
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a. presenting at least one acoustic ramp stimulus to the patient;
b. recording evoked response data from the patient to form primary data;
c. performing signal analysis on the primary data, and rejecting primary data sections which do not meet specified homogeneity criteria, to obtain processed data;
d. analyzing the processed data using time-frequency analysis to produce result data;
e. using the result data to evaluate auditory capacities of the auditory system of said patient. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54)
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Specification