A new objective behavioral assessment of hearing in young infants

Project SummaryInfancy is a critical window for language development and an undiagnosed hearing impairment during this time can lead to lifelong speech and language deficitsIdentification and treatment of a hearing impairment beforemo can lead to language outcomes nearly equivalent to normal hearing peersThe benefit of intervention beforemo has led to theguidelineswhere all infants should be screened for hearing impairment bymonthdiagnosed bymonthsand prescribed intervention bymonthsHoweverit can be difficult to obtain an accurate diagnosis of hearing impairment by this age as behavioral assessments can be subjective and unreliable until aftermosPhysiological measures such as Otoacoustic EmmissionsOAEor Auditory Brainstem ResponseABRprovide objective measures of hearing from birthhowever may not produce a completely accurate audiogram as they only assess functioning in portions of the auditory systemOnly behavioral testing can provide a direct measure of hearingbut current technologies leave the audiology community without an objective behavioral assessment of hearing within thetimelineThis proposal investigates the technical merit of using sucking activity as an objective behavioral assessment of hearing in infants beforemosSucking is an innate behavior that infants can control from birthIt can be objectively measured and infants are already known to alter their sucking in response to soundsThe proposal will leverage Brainchild Technologies previously developed Smart Pacifier that can objectively measure changes in an infantandapos s sucking behavior in response to images and soundsSpecific Aim I will create Smart Pacifier connected software that can serve as a digital audiometer and measures infantsandapossucking behavior in response to the presentation of tones normally used in behavioral audiometrySpecific Aimwill conduct a proof of concept study to assess if this Smart Pacifier platform will engage normal hearing infants younger thanmo long enough to produce an audiogramThe proof of concept in infants will focus onbehavioral paradigmspassive suckingcontingent suckingand operant conditioned sucking Project Narrative This research would help improve the early diagnosis of hearing impairment in infants and lead to betterinformed interventionsAs the first few months of a babyandapos s life are a critical window for language developmentimproving interventions earlier can lead to improved language outcomes over the lifetime