Determining masking levels in an automated diagnostic hearing test
First Claim
1. In a computer-based, multimedia system for allowing a patient to quickly and conveniently test his own hearing without a sound isolation chamber and with minimal assistance from an operator, a method of estimating masking levels to be used for the testing, comprising:
- determining a crossover level for a non-test ear;
calculating a minimum masking level for the non-test ear based on the crossover and an air-bone gap for the non-test ear;
calculating a maximum masking level for the non-test ear based on a masking interaural attenuation and an effective presentation level;
determining a masking level to be used for the testing using one or more of the crossover level, the minimum masking level, and the maximum masking level; and
implementing a hysteresis to prevent changes that are smaller than a predetermined amount from being made to the masking level.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Method and system are disclosed for automated testing of a patient'"'"'s hearing. The automated hearing test allows the patient to quickly and accurately test his own hearing with minimal or no assistance from an audiologist or other hearing health professionals. The test prompts and instructs the patient for inputs and responses as needed. The patient can select one or several tests to be performed, including air and bone conduction testing with masking, speech reception threshold, speech discrimination, tympanogram, acoustic reflex, and otoacoustic emissions testing. Multiple languages are supported. Data obtained from one test may be used for another test or another iteration of the same test to calculate masking levels. The automatic hearing test also detects ambient noise and can compensate for it in the test results. If a contingency occurs, the automated hearing test is configured to page the operator for assistance.
85 Citations
26 Claims
-
1. In a computer-based, multimedia system for allowing a patient to quickly and conveniently test his own hearing without a sound isolation chamber and with minimal assistance from an operator, a method of estimating masking levels to be used for the testing, comprising:
-
determining a crossover level for a non-test ear; calculating a minimum masking level for the non-test ear based on the crossover and an air-bone gap for the non-test ear; calculating a maximum masking level for the non-test ear based on a masking interaural attenuation and an effective presentation level; determining a masking level to be used for the testing using one or more of the crossover level, the minimum masking level, and the maximum masking level; and implementing a hysteresis to prevent changes that are smaller than a predetermined amount from being made to the masking level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer-based, multimedia system for allowing a patient to quickly and conveniently test his own speech discrimination threshold without a sound isolation chamber and with minimal assistance from an operator, comprising:
-
transducers, including an air conduction transducer and a bone conduction transducer; a hearing test device capable of producing tones, speech, and masking noise connected to the transducers; a computer connected to the hearing test device and storing an automated hearing test thereon, the automated hearing test configured to cause the computer to; determine a crossover level for a non-test ear of the patient; calculate a minimum masking level for the non-test ear based on the crossover and an air-bone gap for the non-test ear; calculate a maximum masking level for the non-test ear based on a masking interaural attenuation and an effective presentation level; determine a masking level to be used for the testing using one or more of the crossover level, the minimum masking level, and the maximum masking level; and implementing a hysteresis to prevent changes that are smaller than a predetermined amount from being made to the masking level. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of establishing masking levels in a computer-based automated hearing test, comprising:
-
estimating an unmasked pure tone bone threshold at a given pure tone frequency; estimating an unmasked pure tone air threshold at the given pure tone frequency; determining a difference between the unmasked pure tone air threshold and the unmasked pure tone bone threshold; and determining a pure tone bone masking level only if a difference between the unmasked pure tone air threshold and the unmasked pure tone bone threshold is greater than a first predetermined level. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
-
-
24. A method of establishing masking levels in a computer-based automated hearing test, comprising:
-
obtaining a first pure tone threshold at a given pure tone frequency for a first ear being tested; estimating a first masking level based on the first pure tone threshold; obtaining a second pure tone threshold at the given pure tone frequency for the first ear being tested; determining whether the first masking level is correct using the second pure tone threshold; and obtaining a second masking level based on the second pure tone threshold if the first masking level is determined to be incorrect. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
-
26. A method of establishing masking levels in a computer-based automated hearing test, comprising:
-
determining a crossover level for a non-test ear; calculating a minimum masking level for the non-test ear based on the crossover and an air-bone gap for the non-test ear; calculating a maximum masking level for the non-test ear based on a masking interaural attenuation and an effective presentation level; and determining a masking level using one or more of the crossover level, the minimum masking level, and the maximum masking level; wherein the masking level is applied during a speech reception threshold test.
-
Specification