Improved Hearing Assessment via Otoacoustic Emission Measurement Based on Advanced Fuzzy Logic Filtering Techniques

Having been recently discovered, otacoustic emission (OAEs) are low-level sounds produced by the inner ear as part of the normal hearing process. There is great potential in using reliably measured OAE to provide a quick, inexpensive and non-intrusive assessment of hearing functional levels and detection of early temporal damage to the hearing function. To further explore this potential, an advanced fuzzy logic filtering technique based OAE measurement approach will be investigated in this study. Recent advances in fizzy logic have provided new filtering techniques that integrate inexact human experts and rigorous mathematical filters to handle noise and uncertainties. Specifically, hierarchial fizzy logic and weighted majority minimum range based filtering techniques will be investigated and applied to obtain genuine OAE signals from the measured biological signals which are usually accompanied with noise and other artifacts. Utilizing hierarchical fuzzy logic will add more flexibility both in integrating human experts with non-fuzzy filters and in using such non-fuzzy filters themselves. This Phase I will demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and Phase II will continue this effort to result in a fully functioned biomedical instrument to meet USAF needs in non-intrusive assessments of the hearing function.