SBIR-STTR Award

A new, innovative kit for parent screening of infant hearing (0-24 months) will be developed and given to 300 parent pairs to validate a home screening program, using special frequency sound-makers.Of the approximately 4,000,000 babies bom in the United States each year, over 1,000,000 develop hearing problems from recurrent otitis media during their first 24 months. Approximately 8,000 of these infants can be found with congenital hearing losses. If such hearing losses (even as slight as 10 to 15 dB) are not detected and treated promptly, serious delays can occur in speech and language development. All too frequently this can prevent the child from reaching his highest potential.The costs to society of hearing loss and consequent remedial and other programs is staggering. An effective contribution to early intervention and treatment to reduce the problem is urgently required. The objectives of this project are to: (1) demonstrate that a well-developed home test system can be used successfully by parents to identify infant hearing problems; (2) confirm with followup professional testing that parents can obtain the same results as trained professionals in recognizing that a problem exists, by following simple instructions; and (3) establish the feasibility of wide distribution of the product to parents of newborn children and infants.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

In Phase I of this project the feasibility of parental screening of hearin of infants in the home was established. However, the need for more definitive and controllable stimuli in conducting the screening was also demonstrated. The aim of Phase II is to develop and test the use of innovative and inexpensive instruments which can be measured and controlle to desired frequency and intensity specifications. These instruments will consist of an electronic sound generator designed especially for screening infants in the 6-24 month age range; and a mechanical instrument producing a generalized frequency sound to be used for screening babies 0-5 months for detecting hearing loss. These instruments will be validated in a controlled laboratory setting by having parents test infants in home-simulated environment.The lack of early detection in thousands of children in the first years of their developmental skills is a major health problem which this proposed home kit is designed to address. The availability of a well-validated instrument for home screening of the young child will ensure early identification of hearing-impaired children and will provide a world-wide market for the instruments.

Thesaurus Terms:
Biomedical Engineering, Instrumentation Clinically Oriented Children, Infant (Birth To 1 Yr) Diagnostic Services, Mass Screening Ear, Hearing, Auditory Discrimination Ear Disorders, Hearing Disorders Ear Disorders Diagnosis (Incl Exams) Ear Disorders Diagnosis, Hearing Tests Environment Controlled Human, Clinical Physical Properties, Sound FrequencyNational Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD)