Infant Hearing Screener Incorporating Oae and Abr

This project is designed to explore the feasibility of the development of a small, compact(lunchbox size), stand-alone and rapid infant hearing screening instrument that utilizes a two levelscreening technique. The first level of screening used an automated otacoustic emissions test for a veryquick hearing screen. The second level of screening uses an automated ABR technique. This instrumentwould provide for 1-2 minute OAE testing and 6-8 minute ABR testing, and thus be very useful foruniversal infant hearing screening applications in hospitals. This project will initially build screening ABRcapability into the Virtual Model 330 Otacoustic Emissions Test instrument, a commercial instrumentcapable of screening OAE, and then use this prototype as a vehicle for the development of criticalalgorithms and optimization of key system components to achieve the state-of-the-art performance andtest times outlined. This development must also take place with a keen eye to the target instrument sizeand cost issues. Should this project be successful it would provide a major step forward in reaching amuch sought-after goal of lowering the age of identification of hearing impairment in infants and children.