HEARING SCREENING SYSTEM FOR A SUBJECT OR A PATIENT, AND A METHOD FOR HEARING SCREENING

• US 20100249635A1
• Filed: 03/26/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cordial Medical Europe B.V. (Medical Partners International BV)
• Original Assignee: Cordial Medical Europe B.V. (Medical Partners International BV)
• Inventors: Van Der Reijden, Christoph Stefan
• Application Number:
  US12/412,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20100249635A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/544
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/182 Electrical shielding, e.g. using a Faraday cage
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/121 evaluating hearing capacity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/30 Input circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/305 Common mode rejection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/31 for electroencephalography [EEG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/38 Acoustic or auditory stimuli

Abstract

An auditory stimulus device in a first aspect for applying an auditory stimulus to at least one ear of a subject; at least three electrodes for electrically connecting to at least three different positions on a head of the subject for measuring respective potential changes in response to the auditory stimulus; two galvanically isolated power supplies; two differential amplifiers arranged for receiving galvanically isolated supply voltages from the power supplies. In a second aspect the system comprises one (or more) electroencephalographic (EEG) channels with one differential amplifier, wherein the differential amplifier is arranged for amplifying a potential difference between the pair of electrodes for obtaining an amplified EEG signal on an output of the differential amplifier, wherein the differential amplifier is configured for first amplifying the potential difference with a total differential gain and subsequently taking a difference between respective output potentials of the amplified potential difference.

Claims

1. A hearing screening system for a subject or patient, the system comprising:

auditory stimulus device configured to apply an auditory stimulus to at least one ear of the subject or patient;

at least three electrodes for electrically connecting to at least three different positions on a head of the subject or patient for measuring respective potential changes in response to the auditory stimulus;

a first power supply having first supply terminals for supplying a first supply voltage;

a second power supply having second supply terminals for supplying a second supply voltage;

a first differential amplifier being arranged for receiving the first supply voltage, the first differential amplifier having a first pair of inputs coupled to a first pair of electrodes selected from the at least three electrodes, the first differential amplifier being arranged for amplifying a first potential difference between the first pair selected from the electrodes for obtaining a first electroencephalographic (EEG) signal on a first output of the first differential amplifier, and

a second differential amplifier being arranged for receiving the second supply voltage, the second differential amplifier having a second pair of inputs coupled to a second pair of electrodes that is different than the first pair of electrodes and that is selected from the at least three electrodes, the second differential amplifier being arranged for amplifying a second potential difference between the second pair selected from the electrodes for obtaining a second EEG signal on a second output of the second differential amplifier;

wherein the first supply voltage and the second supply voltage are galvanically isolated from each other.

2. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the first supply terminals is coupled to a first specific one of the electrodes, and wherein at least one of the second supply terminals is coupled to a second specific one of the electrodes, wherein the second specific one is different from the first specific one.

3. The hearing screening as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first supply terminals further comprise a first intermediate supply terminal for supplying a first intermediate supply potential that is located between respective potentials of the first supply voltage, and wherein the second supply terminals further comprise a second intermediate supply terminal for supplying a second intermediate supply potential that is located between respective potentials of the second supply voltage, wherein the first intermediate supply terminal is coupled to the first specific one of the electrodes, and wherein the second intermediate supply terminal is coupled to the second specific one of the electrodes.

4. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least three electrodes comprise a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode, respectively, wherein the first pair of inputs is coupled to the first electrode and the third electrode, and wherein the second pair of inputs is coupled to the second electrode and the third electrode.

5. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 4, wherein

the first specific one of the electrodes that is coupled to the at least one of the first supply terminals, is the second electrode, and wherein the second specific one of the electrodes that is coupled to the at least one of the second supply terminals, is the first electrode.

6. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each respective one of the first pair of inputs is provided with a first coupling, for simultaneous DC-decoupling from and AC-coupling to a respective one of the first pair of electrodes, and wherein each respective one of the second pair of inputs is provided with second coupling for simultaneous DC-decoupling from and AC-coupling to a respective one of the second pair of electrodes.

7. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 6, wherein respective coupling comprise a respective coupling capacitor per input of the respective differential amplifiers, each respective coupling capacitor being connected between a respective electrode and a respective input.

8. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the differential amplifiers are configured for a total differential gain between 1000 and 200000.

9. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the differential amplifiers are configured for first amplifying the respective potential differences with the total differential gain and subsequently taking a difference between respective output potentials of the amplified potential differences.

10. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising two isolation amplifiers and a third power supply, wherein each respective one of the differential amplifiers is coupled to a respective one of the isolation amplifiers, wherein the isolation amplifiers each comprise a galvanic barrier between a respective input side and a respective output side of the isolation amplifiers, wherein the respective output sides are each coupled to the third power supply for setting a DC level of respective outputs of the isolation amplifiers to obtain a first output channel and a second output channel respectively.

11. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is integrated into a head-set for mounting on a head of a subject or patient.

12. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the head-set is designed such that, in operational use, a position of the first electrode coincides with the right-mastoid position, a position of the second electrode coincides with the left-mastoid position, and a position of the third electrode coincides with the Cz-position, respectively.

13. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrodes are durable electrodes.

14. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auditory stimulus device is configured for applying the auditory stimulus on both ears simultaneously at different repetition rates.

15. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a processor unit connected to the auditory stimulus device for controlling the application of the auditory stimulus, the processor unit being further configured for receiving, collecting, and processing data from the differential amplifier to obtain quantitative data about the hearing ability of the subject or patient.

16. The hearing screening system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the processor unit is arranged for calculating a third EEG channel by subtracting the first channel from the second channel.

17. A hearing screening system for a subject or patient, the system comprising:

auditory stimulus device configured to apply an auditory stimulus to at least one ear of the subject or patient;

at least two electrodes for electrically connecting to at least two different positions on a head of the subject or patient for measuring respective potential changes in response to the auditory stimulus;

a differential amplifier having a pair of inputs coupled to a pair selected from the electrodes, the differential amplifier being arranged for amplifying a potential difference between the pair of electrodes for obtaining an amplified electroencephalographic (EEG) signal on an output of the differential amplifier, wherein the differential amplifier is configured for a total differential gain between 1000 and 200000, and wherein the differential amplifier is configured for first amplifying the potential difference with the total differential gain and subsequently taking a difference between respective output potentials of the amplified potential difference.

18. A hearing screening method for a subject or patient, the method comprising acts of:

providing at least two electrodes on at least two different positions on a head of the subject or patient;

applying an auditory stimulus to at least one ear of the subject or patient;

measuring potential changes in response to the auditory stimulus with the at least two electrodes, and

amplifying a potential difference between the electrodes with a total differential gain between 1000 and 200000 for obtaining an amplified electroencephalographic (EEG) signal, and

taking a difference between respective output potentials of the amplified potential difference.