**3. Conclusion**

The present section provided a brief guide on equipment for diagnosis of deafness and hearing assistive technology.

Although, audiology equipment for evoked potentials and otoacoustic emissions provides highly relevant information deriving from hearing damage, in future, new technological developments should be directed toward improving the hearing test. The research will continue to study algorithms for more accurate, physically realistic modeling of the cochlea, which should assist in the process of diagnosing local inner-ear problems.

Audiometers, Tympanometers and other electronic equipment for hearing diagnosis must be designed taking into account specific data formats, communication protocols and interoperability standards, as such HL7 (Health Level Seven) to send data from audiology equipment to electronic medical record, then it is possible to share and use data for research and clinical propose.

Technology for Hearing Evaluation 23

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Potential areas for improving hearing aids and cochlear implants include frequency response by analyzing sound across several bands, enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio with adaptive filtering, installing additional detectors for monitoring the environment. Subsequently applying average algorithms to turn the acoustic signal into a frequency map and for the application of noise reduction while maintaining high gain in bands in which speech is detected., will improve speech understanding in noise.

For patient with nerve deafness, one goal is to restore hearing with cochlear electrode implants in order to stimulate the nerve endings directly. However, despite electrode stimulation of nerves at the correct place along the cochlea, the perception of high frequency has not been achieved to date.

Finally, the research on FM and infrared systems, Bluetooth adaptors, and other novel communication techniques and devices continues for helping patient to achieve greater comfort, higher satisfaction-of-fit and less fatigue, when he/she is exposed to a noisy environment

### **4. Acknowledgment**

We thank the staff of the Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as that of the Audiology and Electrodiagnosis Services for the support received in the collection of information.

#### **5. References**


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Finally, the research on FM and infrared systems, Bluetooth adaptors, and other novel communication techniques and devices continues for helping patient to achieve greater comfort, higher satisfaction-of-fit and less fatigue, when he/she is exposed to a noisy

We thank the staff of the Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as that of the Audiology and Electrodiagnosis Services for the support received in the collection of

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environment

information.

**5. References** 

**4. Acknowledgment** 


**2** 

**Contralateral Suppression of Otoacoustic** 

**Simple Objective Frequency Specific Test** 

Nikolaus E. Wolter1, Robert V. Harrison2 and Adrian L. James3 *1Department Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto* 

*Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, University of Toronto* 

*2Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery,* 

*3Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery,* 

Hearing loss affects all demographics regardless of geographical location or age. In a similar fashion to how hearing loss can isolate post-lingualy deaf adults, hearing loss in the pediatric population has profound detrimental effects despite the richness of the deaf culture. A complete discussion of the adverse effects of hearing loss must include discussion of this important component of the deaf and hearing impaired population. The World Health Organization defines "disabling hearing impairment" in children under the age of 15 years as an unaided hearing threshold level in the better ear of 31 dB HL or more using pure tone averages at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz. The prevalence of childhood hearing loss is 1.2 to 1.7 cases per 1000 live births and the prevalence increases up to 6 years of age as a result of meningitis, delayed onset of genetic hearing loss, or delayed diagnosis (Kral & O'Donoghue, 2010). In the majority of cases of childhood hearing loss is congenital with a smaller proportion being progressive or acquired (A. Davis & Wood, 1992; A. Davis et al., 1997).The prevalence is greater still in developing countries because of lack of immunization, exposure to ototoxic drugs, and consanguinity (Kral & O'Donoghue, 2010). Profound hearing loss (hearing loss > 90 dB) has far-reaching, lifelong consequences in children (Kral & O'Donoghue, 2010). Andrej *et al*. report that there can be a restriction in learning and literacy as a result of the lack of development of spoken language with its impact on daily communication (Kral & O'Donoghue, 2010; Marschark & Wauters, 2008). This in turn has been shown to substantially compromise educational achievement and employment opportunity later in life (Allen, 1986; A. Davis et al., 1997; Schroeder et al., 2006; Thompson et al., 2001; Wake, Hughes, Poulakis, Collins, & Rickards, 2004a). The detrimental effects of profound hearing loss in children are summarized in Table 1. Unless children are afforded opportunities to develop language, deaf children can fall behind their hearing peers in communication, cognition, literacy and

psychosocial development (Holden-Pitt & Albertorio, 1998).

**1. Introduction** 

**Emissions: Working Towards a** 

**for Hearing Screening** 

*University of Toronto* 

*Canada* 

