AN INSTRUMENT FOR AUTOMATED AUDITORY SCREENING OF THE NEWBORN

METRACO, INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE EVOKED-POTENTIAL INSTRUMENT THAT WILL ALLOW AUTOMATED SCREENING FOR HEARING PROBLEMS IN THE NEWBORN INFANT. THE INSTRUMENT WILL PROVIDE NEW, UNIQUE FEATURES AND TECHNOLOGY UNAVAILABLE IN EXISTING INSTRUMENTS. THE MAJOR GOALS ARE: (1) TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AND ERROR REDUCTION ABILITY BY COMPUTATION OF THE MEDIAN RATHER THAN THE MEAN EVOKED POTENTIAL, ALLOWING FEWER STIMULI TO BE USED, THEREBY REDUCING THE TIME OF THE TEST PROCEDURE; (2) TO DEVELOP AN AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS SYSTEM THAT WILL COMPARE THE VALUES DETERMINED BY THE EVOKED-POTENTIAL SYSTEMAGAINST NORMATIVE DATA TO PROVIDE RELIABLE SCREENING FOR HEARING DEFICITS IN THE NEWBORN, USING PREDETERMINED PASS/FAIL CRITERIA; (3) TO INCORPORATE OFF-THE-SHELF MICROPROCESSORS TO REDUCE THE COST TO THE END USERS; (4) TO MAKE THE SYSTEM SIMPLE TO USE, THEREBY PERMITTING RELIABLE OPERATION BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL WITHOUT SPECIALIZED TRAINING;AND (5) TO PROVIDE A WRITTEN RECORD OF THE TEST FOR ANALYSISBY THE PHYSICIAN AND AS A FOLLOW-UP FOR LATER TREATMENT IF REQUIRED. PHASE I WILL BE CONCEPTUAL IN NATURE AND THE INSTRUMENT WILLBE AN ENGINEERING BENCH PROTOTYPE ONLY.