Hearing Test System Suitable for Self-Administered Hearing Assessment

摘要

Astronauts have developed hearing loss in space, so the goal of this project was to provide a robust, self-administered, accurate noise-tolerance hearing test system for astronauts. The device includes Bekesy-like threshold audiome-try, distortion product otoacoustic emission testing, and gap-detection testing. The system consists of an ear probe containing two speakers and a microphone, electronics to condition the signals sent to the speakers and received from the microphone, and software for collecting, analyz- ing, and presenting the data. The system provides feedback on probe position in the ear canal, and indicates if the probe needs to be repositioned to match a previous location. Also, the system measures the noise in the ear canal - information that can be used to determine if a valid threshold-based hearing test can be performed. Results to date have shown that all the tests can be completed successfully, a poorly positioned probe can be detected, and ear canal noise measurements can be made. Additionally, some work has been done to explore the use of custom-molded earplugs to provide very repeatable results in those settings where this is particularly important.