A system having a scope with a longitudinal length extending between a proximal end and a distal end includes a plurality of markers spaced along the longitudinal length. The system also includes a disassociation and positioning device that is configured to enhance unsedated transnasal endoscopic procedures by at least partially occluding the vision of a patient while enabling body cavity access, and optionally record and sense body functions such as temperature, heart rate and oxygenation of the blood stream. The system further includes a sensor integrated into the distraction device, wherein the sensor is configured to detect the markers on the longitudinal length of the scope.

An ultrasound signal processor uses an excitation generator to cause displacement of a tympanic membrane while a series of ultrasound pulses are applied to the tympanic membrane. Phase differences between a transmitted signal and received signal are examined to determine the movement of the tympanic membrane in response to the applied excitation. An examination of the phase response of the tympanic membrane provides a determination as to whether the fluid type behind the tympanic membrane is one of: no fluid, serum fluid, or purulent fluid.

Speech understanding in the presence of background noise can be assessed using novel hearing tests. One such test is a Masking Level Difference with Digits (MLDD) test, which is a clinical tool designed to measure auditory factors that influence the understanding of speech presented within a background of noise. The MLDD test can be used clinically to facilitate a determination of functional hearing. The MLDD test presents background noise using both monotic and diotic conditions.

A system that enables a hearing test administrator to reduce false indications of hearing loss in a patient and administer an interactive hearing assessment in a test environment is described. The system includes a sound measuring device to measure one or more background sounds of the test environment, and a data processor to process the background sounds, and determine the frequency and amplitude of the background sounds. The system may further include a memory that stores the backgrounds sounds, and its frequency and/or amplitude. The system may analyze whether the background sounds are above the maximum permissible ambient noise levels of the test environment and generate a report for analysis by the hearing test administrator.

Acoustic immittance and other characteristics of ears may be determined by measuring eardrum displacements resulting from application of pressure to the eardrum. For example, optical coherence tomography may be applied to monitor eardrum displacements responsive to a sound. The pressure corresponding to the sound is measured by a suitable instrument such as a microphone. The measured displacements and pressures may be processed to obtain a measure of immitance.

A probe insertion apparatus for real ear measurement includes a probe tube, a reference microphone, a reference speaker, an operator feedback device, a memory, and a processor. The processor is configured to direct the reference speaker to continuously emit reference sound, continuously receive reference signals from the reference microphone and tympanic reflection signals from the measurement microphone, and continuously make determinations of a tympanic distance between the sound receiving end of the probe tube and a tympanic membrane based on the reference and tympanic reflection signals and absent reference to a calibration measurement, as the operator moves the sound receiving end towards the tympanic membrane. The processor is also configured to automatically direct the operator feedback device to provide indicia of the tympanic distance between the sound receiving end of the probe tube and a tympanic membrane, as the operator moves the sound receiving end towards the tympanic membrane.

A set of one or more processing circuits obtains eye movement-related eardrum oscillation (EMREO)-related measurements from one or more EMREO sensors of a hearing instrument. The EMREO sensors are located in an ear canal of a user of the hearing instrument and are configured to detect environmental signals of EMREOs of an eardrum of the user of the hearing instrument. The one or more processing circuits may perform an action based on the EMREO-related measurements.

An in-ear device includes a housing shaped to hold the in-ear device in an ear, and an audio package, disposed in the housing, to emit sound. A tympanic membrane measurement unit (TMMU) is structured to measure a movement of a tympanic membrane in the ear caused by external sound received by the tympanic membrane, and a controller is coupled to the audio package and the TMMU. The controller includes logic that when executed by the controller causes the in-ear device to perform operations. The operations include measuring a movement of the tympanic membrane, and in response to measuring the movement of the tympanic membrane, outputting sound from the audio package to destructively interfere with the external sound received by the tympanic membrane.

Systems and methods are provided for performing phase-sensitive optical coherence tomographic (PS-OCT) measurements involving the vibrographic response of an acoustic stimulus. Detected signals are processed to provide sampled time-dependent vibrographic data characterizing a vibratory amplitude and phase response over one or more periods of the acoustic stimulus. The sampled time-dependent vibrographic data is processed to suppress the sinusoidal signal component associated with the acoustic stimulus, thereby providing a residual data associated with noise. The residual data is processed to obtain an estimate of the motion noise, and the motion noise is subtracted from the sampled time-dependent vibrographic data in order to provide noise-corrected vibrographic data. The noise-corrected vibrographic data can be processed to obtain one or more vibrographic measures and/or one or more images.

An ultrasound signal processor uses an excitation generator to cause displacement of a tympanic membrane while a series of ultrasound pulses are applied to the tympanic membrane. Phase differences between a transmitted signal and received signal are examined to determine the movement of the tympanic membrane in response to the applied excitation. An examination of the phase response of the tympanic membrane provides a determination as to whether the fluid type behind the tympanic membrane is one of: no fluid, serum fluid, or purulent fluid.