An ear ailment diagnostic device and method in accordance with the present disclosure generally comprises a pair of earpieces, which both further comprise a light source, a magnification lens, an air conduction channel and a miniature camera. The earpieces may optionally comprise a thermometer and/or tympanometer. Each earpiece is coupled to an air conduction tube, an insufflator and an electrical wiring/data tube which is coupled to a computer. The insufflator may be manually, electronically, or battery powered. In the preferred embodiment the computer comprises a smart phone with data processing capability and wireless communication capability. Any data sent from the device can then be interpreted and diagnosed in a remote location so that an accurate treatment is prescribed.

An audiologic test apparatus includes: a pump device configured to apply a first pressure to the ear canal; and a processing module for communicatively coupling to the pump device and to a signal generator, wherein the processing module is configured to obtain first acoustic parameter values indicative of an acoustic parameter at the first pressure based on a first broadband signal generated using the signal generator; wherein the pump device is configured to change the first pressure to a changed pressure, and wherein the pump device is also configured to apply a second pressure to the ear canal; and wherein the processing module is also configured to obtain second acoustic parameter values indicative of the acoustic parameter at the second pressure based on a second broadband signal generated using the signal generator, and determine a middle ear resonance frequency based on the first and second acoustic parameter values.

The system of the preferred embodiments is an ear treatment device including: an electrical power supply; an electric heater coupled in electronic communication to the electrical power supply; a spray nozzle coupled to a fluid passageway; a fluid reservoir coupled to the opposite end of the fluid passageway from the spray nozzle; at least one of I) a pump, II) an ultrasonic mist generator, and III) a vapor generator designed to cause the fluid from the reservoir to flow through the fluid passageway and out of the spray nozzle; wherein the electric heater is adapted to heat the fluid in at least one of A) the reservoir, B) the fluid passageway, and C) the spray nozzle; wherein the nozzle is adapted to spray the fluid into the ear canal of a user. Preferably the ear treatment device of the preferred embodiments is designed to treat earaches in a user, and possibly to assist in the promotion of drainage of fluid from a user's middle ear and in some cases to treat ear infections. The system of the preferred embodiments may, however, be used for any suitable purpose.

A wideband acoustic immittance measurement apparatus including an ear probe having an acoustic output port for emitting sound into an ear canal and an acoustic input port for receiving sound from the ear canal, a loudspeaker that is acoustically connected with the acoustic output port, a microphone acoustically connected with the acoustic input port for generating an audio signal as a function of sound received at the acoustic input port, and a processor for controlling the loudspeaker to emit sound spanning a frequency range and receiving the audio signal of the microphone, determining a complex acoustic admittance Y(f)=G(f)+jB(f) as a function of frequency f based on the emitted sound and the received audio signal, and identifying at least one middle ear resonance based on both the real and imaginary part of the determined acoustic admittance as a function of frequency f.

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.

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.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods to detect a wide range of eardrum conditions by using visually-descriptive words of a tympanic membrane of a subject.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure disclose various tympanometry techniques. A tympanometry curve is generated for a user based at least in part on audio data indicative of a sound absorbance associated with a middle ear (ME) system over a fragment of an evaluation time period. A curve-pressure pair including the tympanometry curve and a correlating pressure measurement is generated and utilized to identify historical data indicative of a plurality of historical curve-pressure pairs with similar pressure measurements to the correlating pressure measurement. A performance metric is generated for the ME system of the user based at least in part on a comparison between the tympanometry curve and the historical data.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a device for measuring otoacoustic emissions (OAE) of a test subject. The device includes a stimulus generator configured to generate at least one acoustic stimulus, an ear probe, where the ear probe includes an output unit for emitting said at least one acoustic stimulus into an ear canal of the test subject, and an input unit for measuring an acoustic emission (P.sub.spl) from the ear of the test subject. The device can further include an analysis unit configured to receive said measured acoustic emission (P.sub.spl) and to determine a compensated pressure level (P.sub.npl) of said measured acoustic emission (P.sub.spl), where the determination of the compensated pressure level is based on characterizing the middle ear of the test subject as a Norton-equivalent circuit. The present application further relates to a method of measuring otoacoustic emissions (OAE) of a test subject and to a computer program.

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.