A computer model of hearing loss

Deafness Research UK has awarded a grant to Professor Ray Meddis at the University of Essex to explore the potential of computer models of hearing for helping us to understand different kinds of hearing impairment.

[Studentship: 2007-2010]

Recent developments in computer model design have opened up a range of new and largely unexplored possibilities for understanding different kinds of hearing impairment and diagnosing the specific underlying pathology of the ear for a given patient.

Computer models are used to explain normal hearing but can also be used to predict the consequences of malfunction of any one of the numerous individual working parts of the outer, middle and inner ear. This process can be reversed by using the detailed measurement of a patient’s hearing to adjust a model so that it represents exactly what has gone wrong with the patient’s hearing.

Doctoral student Manasa Panda is a qualified clinical audiologist who is now using his clinical skills to make a range of diagnostic measurements on a number of patients and adjust the computer model to suit each individual patient. He will then check the model to see that it produces the same diagnostic results as the patient when tested on a range of performance measures.

This project is ongoing, but has already made considerable progress. Manasa has now adapted an existing computer model to simulate the hearing of individuals with both normal and impaired hearing. The computer model simulates physiological processes in the ear that are the basis of learning.

He has found that there are interesting differences between people with normal hearing that can be modelled in a plausible way. Plausible models have also been made for four impaired listeners with very different hearing profiles. These results were presented at this year’s British Society of Audiology meeting, and a paper is being prepared for publication in a scientific journal.

The long term aim of the project is to use computer models to estimate the benefits that might be predicted from different types of hearing aid if fitted to a particular patient. The main beneficiaries of the project will therefore be the patients, although audiologists and aid dispensers will also benefit from improved methods of diagnosis and aid prescription.