SIGNAL PROCESSING SUBSYSTEM-DETECTION OF STIMULATED OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS 'C31

As screening programs for neonatal hearing become more common, there is a need for automatic signal processing methods to classify measured signals and results. Transient click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) are becoming an important tool for screening, especially of hearing in newborn children, because this objective technique requires little cooperation from the patient. The principal problems of this method are difficulties in detecting and identifying emissions in the acoustic response signal from the inner ear requiring a large number of calculations. Results are immediately available during the screening procedure.

As proposed here a system based on a digital signal processor (DSP) should be used for this purpose. In the first stage, statistical algorithms reduce noise and calculate signal and noise energy. The next steps are Fast Fourier and Wigner Ville transforms, digital filtering, and correlation analysis. The system includes a Texas Instruments (TI(TM)) DSP TMS320C31 with added AD and DA converters. Data acquisition, click generation and preprocessing are located on the measurement part of the system. Most important benefit of this solution is the combination of high power computing facilities for mathematical algorithms on DSP to reach a high sensitive in screening with comfortable data and result presentation on the PC.

This document was an entry in the 1995 DSP Solutions Challenge, an annual contest organized by TI to encourage students globally to find innovative ways to use DSPs. For more information, see TI's World Wide Web site at www.ti.com.

*DISCLAIMER: This document was part of the DSP Solution Challenge 1995 European Team Papers. It may have been written by someone whose native language is not English. TI assumes no liability for the quality of writing and/or the accuracy of the information contained herein.

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