Funding boost for hearing research

The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has received confirmation that it has been awarded $662,115 by the NSW Government Medical Devices Fund (MDF) to develop a device that monitors brainwaves to determine how well people can hear.

Known as the automatic Cortical Audiometer, the device will be developed by the HEARing CRC and its Core Member, the NSW-based National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL), to improve the accuracy, efficiency and reliability of hearing tests.

Adj Prof Harvey Dillon, NAL Research Director, said: “Traditionally hearing tests require verbal or behavioural responses from the patient - which is often a challenge when the patient is a baby, infant or young child with multiple disabilities, or is unwell in more advanced age, in particular those suffering from a stroke or dementia.

“The new tool will use electrical responses from the brain, called auditory-evoked responses, to automatically assess hearing capabilities and to produce an individualised audiogram. That’s a graphical measure of the patient’s hearing status. This process is simple, painless and bypasses the need for traditional patient responses.”

Adj Prof Dillon explained: “All that is needed is that the patient be awake and reasonably quiet. As the responses come from the brain’s auditory cortex, it measures the response of the complete hearing mechanism, allowing it to be used with all types of hearing loss.”

He continued: “Making the testing procedure and subsequent data analysis automatic opens up new opportunities for the test to be performed by non-specialist clinicians or even health technicians. Furthermore, the test will save valuable time during a consultation, allowing the clinician to spend more time discussing follow-up and treatment options with the patient and carers.”

The Cortical Audiometer will run on the award-winning HEARLab platform, a diagnostic and rehabilitation device previously developed by the HEARing CRC and NAL. The HEARLab concept was licensed and made available internationally through FRYE Electronics in 2011, with ongoing software development by the original team at the HEARing CRC and NAL.