Microphone array based novel infant deafness detector

This work focuses on an infant deafness detector unit, using the concept of microphone array. This instrument is based on the principle of evoked acoustic emissions (OAEs). The key feature of the microphone array is its ability to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and reproducibility of the OAE responses. These further significantly contribute to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the overall system. Low level sound pressure values are recorded by the sensitive microphones in microphone array unit and processed using TI´s DSP6416. The sound stimulus transmitted to human ear is generated and controlled by the 6416 DSP (Digital signal processor). Hardware circuit details and the algorithm used in signal processing are discussed in this paper. Standard averaging technique is used in the implemented algorithm. The final result speaks about the hearing capacity of a patient. The proof that the usage of microphone arrays leads to better SNR values than using a single microphone in an OAE probe, is successfully carried out in this work.