Implementation of the NEURONIC INFANTIX Newborn Hearing Screening System

Abstract

Hearing loss is an important health problem. It affects about six per 1,000 live births worldwide. Hence, the implementation of a newborn hearing screening program represents a goal of a good health system. For the effective implementation of an efficient hearing-screening program, appropriate technologies are needed to make objective physiological measurements. Within these types of technologies, the most commonly used are Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE), Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) and the quite new Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR). This paper presents the NEURONIC INFANTIX Newborn Hearing Screening System for implementing these techniques. The main characteristics of the hardware architecture, its Control Module, Auditory Evoked Potential Record Module and Otoacoustic Emissions Module are depicted. Finally, a prototype and a validation experiment of the AABR technique are shown.