Cochlear response audiometer
First Claim
1. A method for eliciting and recording cochlear responses of a subject, comprising the steps of applying a stimulus signal by mechanically vibrating the subject'"'"'s teeth or the bony structure of the subject'"'"'s head, without using either ear canal to apply said stimulus signal, and electronically recording the cochlear responses to said stimulus signal and electronically isolating said cochlear responses from other responses.
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Abstract
The invention provides a cochlear response audiometer, and new methods for signal generation, detection and processing. The invention preferably uses bone conducted sound, applied to the mastoid, forehead, or any other place with good mechanical contact to the skull, via a vibrator. The bone conducted sound stimulates the cochlea via the skull. The stimulus also produces a sound in the ear canal, but at a very low level, so there is no high level stimulus signal and ringing travelling toward the cochlea at the same time as the cochlear response is travelling back into the ear canal. The responses from the cochlea are recorded, preferably by using a differential amplifier input circuit for the microphone when air-borne response signals are used, and the responses are processed in a way which compensates for the stimulus artefact, by subtracting a scaled-down version of the cochlear response to a large stimulus from the cochlear response to a moderate stimulus.
69 Citations
13 Claims
- 1. A method for eliciting and recording cochlear responses of a subject, comprising the steps of applying a stimulus signal by mechanically vibrating the subject'"'"'s teeth or the bony structure of the subject'"'"'s head, without using either ear canal to apply said stimulus signal, and electronically recording the cochlear responses to said stimulus signal and electronically isolating said cochlear responses from other responses.
- 5. A method for eliciting and recording cochlear responses of a subject, comprising the steps of applying a stimulus signal by mechanically vibrating the teeth or by mechanically vibrating the bony structure of the subject'"'"'s head or by sending an airborne signal into an ear canal of the subject, and recording the cochlear responses to said stimulus signal, wherein said stimulus signal has a pair of phase-locked frequencies f1 and f2, and an elemental time window T, such that f1 =a/T and f2 =b/T, where a and b are integers, and T is the elemental time window width in seconds.
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12. A method for eliciting and recording cochlear responses of a subject, comprising the steps of applying a stimulus signal by mechanically vibrating the teeth or bony structure of the subject'"'"'s head or by sending an airborne signal into an ear canal of the subject, recording the cochlear responses to said stimulus signal, and reducing a stimulus artefact by subtracting a scaled-down version of the cochlear response to a large stimulus from the cochlear response to a moderate stimulus that is smaller than the large stimulus.
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13. A method for eliciting and recording cochlear responses of a subject, comprising the steps of applying a stimulus signal to the cochlea, recording the responses to said stimulus signal by recording the mechanical vibrations from the teeth or bony structure of the subject'"'"'s head;
- and electronically isolating said cochlear responses from other responses.
Specification