US-20260123853-A1 - SPECTRO-TEMPORAL MODULATION TEST UNIT

Abstract

Disclosed herein are embodiments of an electrophysiologically based Spectro-Temporal Modulation (STM) test unit. The STM test unit can include an STM stimulus generator and an output unit, wherein the STM stimulus generator is configured to provide STM test stimuli comprising at least one STM probe stimulus to a user via the output unit according to a predetermined STM test protocol. The STM test unit can include one or more electrodes for measuring electrophysiological responses of the user, and an analyser configured to analyse the recorded electrophysiological responses of the user measured in response to the provided stimuli.

Inventors

• Søren Laugesen
• Bue Bjerge Kristensen
• Thomas Behrens
• Raul Sanchez-Lopez
• Johannes Zaar
• Nicholas Crowe
• James Michael HARTE
• Lisbeth Birkelund SIMONSEN

Assignees

• INTERACOUSTICS A/S

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251105

Priority Date

20201130

Claims (19)

1. 1 . Spectro-Temporal Modulation (STM) test unit, the STM test unit comprising: an STM stimulus generator, an output unit, one or more electrodes for measuring electrophysiological responses of a user, and an analyser, wherein the STM stimulus generator is configured to: obtain a predetermined hearing threshold level (HTL) of the user from a memory of the STM test unit, provide STM test stimuli comprising at least one STM probe stimulus to the user via the output unit according to a predetermined STM test protocol, and shape the sound pressure level (SPL) of said STM probe stimuli as function of frequency based on said predetermined HTL of said user, and wherein the analyser is configured to analyse the recorded electrophysiological responses of the user measured in response to the provided STM test stimuli.
2. 2 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein the STM test unit comprises a timing unit configured to time a time interval between starting points of the initiation of the predetermined STM test protocol.
3. 3 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein the STM test unit comprises a memory, wherein the memory stores the STM test stimuli and/or the predetermined STM test protocol.
4. 4 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein the STM test unit comprises or is constituted by an insert earphone.
5. 5 . STM test unit according to claim 4 , wherein said insert earphone comprises the one or more electrodes.
6. 6 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein the STM test unit comprises or is constituted by a hearing aid.
7. 7 . STM test unit according to claim 6 , wherein said hearing aid comprises the one or more electrodes.
8. 8 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein the STM test unit comprises a loudspeaker.
9. 9 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more electrodes are EEG electrodes.
10. 10 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein said provided STM stimuli comprises temporal modulations of 4 Hz and spectral modulations of 2 cycles/octave.
11. 11 . STM test unit according to claim 1 , wherein said provided STM test stimuli further comprises an STM reference stimulus.
12. 12 . STM test unit, the STM test unit comprising: an STM stimulus generator, an output unit, one or more electrodes for measuring electrophysiological responses of the user comprising an STM probe stimulus recognition at said varied degree of modulation of said STM probe stimulus, and an analyser configured to analyse the recorded electrophysiological responses of the user measured in response to a provided STM test stimuli, wherein the STM stimulus generator is configured to provide the STM test stimuli comprising at least one STM probe stimulus to a user via the output unit according to a predetermined STM test protocol, and wherein the STM stimulus generator is configured to provide said at least one STM probe stimulus at a varied degree of modulation.
13. 13 . Method of Spectro-Temporal Modulation (STM) testing of a user, the method comprising: obtaining a predetermined hearing threshold level (HTL) of the user from a memory of an STM test unit, providing STM test stimuli comprising an STM probe stimulus to one or both ears of the user by an STM stimulus generator, according to a predetermined STM test protocol, shaping the sound pressure level (SPL) of said STM probe stimuli as function of frequency based on said predetermined HTL of said user, measuring electrophysiological responses of the user in response to the provided STM test stimuli, by one or more electrodes provided at the user, and analyzing the measured electrophysiological responses of the user by an analyser.
14. 14 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises timing when the STM testing is to be initiated, where the initiation comprises: providing STM test stimuli comprising an STM probe stimulus to the user by the STM stimulus generator, measuring the corresponding electrophysiological responses by the one or more electrodes, and analysing the recorded electrophysiological responses of the user by the analyser.
15. 15 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the predetermined STM test protocol comprises: providing a continuously modulated STM probe stimulus, analysing the measured recorded electrophysiological responses time-locked to spectro-temporal modulations imposed on the STM probe stimulus, and varying a degree of modulation of the STM probe stimulus according to a tracking procedure to obtain a threshold.
16. 16 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the predetermined STM test protocol comprises: providing successive bursts of STM reference stimuli, providing modulated STM probe stimuli at random times, analysing the recorded electrophysiological responses to determine responses to the provided STM probe stimuli, and varying the degree of modulation of the STM probe stimuli according to a tracking procedure to obtain a threshold.
17. 17 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the predetermined STM test protocol comprises: providing a continuous on-going stimulus that alternates between STM reference stimulus intervals and STM probe stimulus intervals, varying a degree of modulation in each of the modulated STM probe stimulus intervals, analysing the recorded electrophysiological responses to determine responses to stimulus alternations, by averaging in the time domain predefined sections of the recorded electrophysiological responses time-locked to stimulus alternations, and varying the degree of modulation of the STM probe stimulus according to a tracking procedure to obtain a threshold.
18. 18 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the method is configured for determining Performance Intensity, Phonetically Balanced (PI-PB) roll-over of the user.
19. 19 . Method according to claim 13 , wherein the method is configured for distinguishing conductive from cochlear hearing loss.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57. SUMMARY The present application relates to an electrophysiologically based Spectro-Temporal Modulation (STM) test unit. The present application further relates to a method of electrophysiologically based Spectro-Temporal Modulation testing of a user. A Test Unit The STM test has received much interest lately as a simple, language-independent measure of supra-threshold hearing ability, and more specifically as a proxy for complicated aided speech-in-noise testing. In the STM test, a spectro-temporally modulated probe sound (STM probe stimulus) is compared to an unmodulated reference sound (STM reference stimulus), with an otherwise similar spectrum. The reference sound, or the carrier, is typically a broad-band noise signal (while alternative carriers may be considered). By means of an adaptive rule, the degree of modulation in the probe sound is varied until the patient's threshold of modulation-detection is reached. The degree of modulation at threshold is the result of the test. High correlations between STM detection thresholds and speech reception thresholds (SRT) have been observed in several studies, particularly for STM stimulus parameters that are similar to those observed for real speech. The known STM test, however, relies on psychophysical test paradigms that are impossible to use with young children and other hard-to-test populations. Moreover, it is possible for malingerers to cheat the psychophysical test paradigms to produce artificially elevated thresholds. Accordingly, there is a need for a new STM test unit and STM method that is able to provide an STM detection threshold of hard-to-test users and removes the possibility of cheating the test. In an aspect of the present application, an electrophysiologically based STM test unit is provided. The electrophysiologically based STM test unit may comprise an STM stimulus generating unit. The electrophysiologically based STM test unit may comprise an output unit. The output unit may be configured to provide a stimulus perceived by the user. The output unit may be configured to provide a stimulus perceived by the user as an acoustic signal based on a processed electric signal. For example, the output unit may comprise an output transducer. The output transducer may comprise a receiver (loudspeaker) for providing the stimulus as an acoustic signal to the user (e.g. in an acoustic (air conduction based) hearing aid). The output transducer may comprise a vibrator for providing the stimulus as mechanical vibration of a skull bone to the user (e.g. in a bone-attached or bone-anchored hearing aid). For example, the output unit may comprise a number of electrodes of a cochlear implant (for a CI type hearing aid) or a vibrator of a bone conducting hearing aid. The STM stimulus generating unit may be configured to provide STM test stimuli to a user. The STM test stimuli may comprise at least one STM probe stimulus. Accordingly, the STM stimulus generating unit may be configured to provide at least one STM probe stimulus to a user. The STM stimulus generating unit may be configured to provide STM test stimuli comprising at least one STM probe stimulus to a user via the output unit according to a predetermined STM test protocol. In response to providing the required STM stimuli, the STM test unit may be configured to measure the corresponding electrophysiological responses of the user by one or more electrodes. For example, the electrophysiological responses may be recorded through a standard clinical four-electrode montage or full-scalp montages with e.g. 64 or 128 channels. In response to measuring the corresponding responses, the analysis unit of the STM test unit may be configured to analyse the recorded electrophysiological responses of the user. The analysis may comprise providing an indication of whether an electrophysiological response is recorded. The analysis may comprise providing an indication of whether an electrophysiological response is recorded depending on the degree of modulation of the at least one STM probe stimulus. The analysis may comprise averaging the recorded electrophysiological responses for each of the respective modulation degrees used. The analysis unit may be configured to provide a result of the recorded electrophysiological responses based on the analysis. Testing, by the STM test unit, may in either case be done monaurally, one ear at a time, or binaurally. The STM stimulus generating unit may be configured to shape the sound pressure level (SPL) of said STM probe stimulus. The STM stimulus generating unit may be configured to shape the sound pressure level (SPL) of said STM probe stimulus as a function of frequency. The SPL of said STM probe stimulus as a function of frequency