Förbättrad design av en tittlåda för att skatta hörsel hos yngre barn

Sammanfattning: In order for the central auditory organs and auditory cortex to develop correctly, auditory stimulation is required from an early age. Due to this, it is vital to identify children with a hearing impairment as quickly as possible. Apart from the screening performed on all newborns in Sweden, the most common test method is visual reinforcement audiometry, VRA. The visual reinforcement tools used today in VRA are not engaging enough to perform an adequate examination. The aim of this project was to create the optimal visual reinforcement box. In this context, optimal primarily refers to a toy with an exciting movement pattern. This would aid the audiologists to ensure a correct diagnosis, while avoiding unnecessary examinations. The project took place at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Lunds Tekniska Högskola, in close collaboration with the audiology clinic at Skånes Universitetssjukhus. The final product originated from a visual reinforcement box provided by the company STV, containing a toy animal attached to a slowly spinning platform. The main focus was to replace this toy with another, providing a more striking moving pattern. The new toy consisted of a parrot flapping its wings, controlled by a switch attached to the box. According to the audiologists who supervised this project, this new toy is preferred to the previous in several aspects. These include being a colorful toy which moves in a noticeable manner, without appearing as scary to the children. Another advantage with the final product of this project is the fact that it produces less resonance inside the box, maintaining focus on the movement of the toy rather than the sound of it.