Smart System for Auditory Assessment in Hearing Conservation Programs

The nature and requirements of many military operations lead to high noise levels, thereby exposing military personnel to the possibility of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and tinnitus. Hearing Conservation Programs (HCP) are designed to protect noise-exposed individuals from developing occupational hearing loss which negatively impacts their health, quality of life, and functional performance. However, audiometric data obtained with existing technology are often vulnerable to various quality control issues such as noisy test environments, examiner error, poor earphone placement, equipment malfunction and complications arising from individual ear status or cooperation. Creare’s Smart System for Auditory Assessment in Hearing Conservation Programs combines: (1) an expert system to generate decision support tools specifically designed for HCP, (2) quality control features for reliable auditory assessment, and (3) effective auditory tests with sensitivity to NIHL and malingering. Under ONR funding, Creare is currently developing a field-deployable earphone-based auditory assessment system that incorporates auditory tests and noise measurements. We will leverage this hardware system and our ongoing work in the field of auditory assessment systems to design and develop our smart software and quality control system.