Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Otogram

Filed under: Diagnostics , ENT

The Houston Business Journal reports that Houston Angel Network (a.k.a. HAN -- an exclusive group of high-net-worth individuals, or angels, who invest in promising start-up companies) has secured buy-out of Tympany Inc. by Sonic Innovations, apparently making money in the process. What impressed those angels in Houston is the Otogram, the system to self-administer a hearing test:

The Otogram™ uses artificial intelligence, touch-screen technology, and proprietary hearing testing equipment to allow patients to self-administer the hearing test, after brief instructions from an administrator. The Ambient Noise Management System™, combined with specialized foam ear inserts, allows testing in any quiet examination room, without the need for a sound booth. The test can be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Upon completion of the test, the patient's results are printed in a computer-generated standardized easy-to-read report and can be integrated with electronic medical records.

The Otogram™ guides a patient through the following diagnostic hearing tests in approximately 20 minutes:

-- Comprehensive audiogram which includes pure-tone air and bone conduction with masking, speech reception threshold and speech discrimination;
-- Tympanometry
-- Acoustic reflex
-- Otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE)

More at Tympany, Inc. website...

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