Hearing Loss Simulator

Hearing Loss Simulator demonstrates the effects of the patient's hearing loss using a variety of sounds and his/her audiogram or audiometric presets. Different display options, visual aids, and drawing tools help facilitate the patient's and his/her family's understanding on the impact of his/her hearing loss on specific environmental and speech sounds. A copy of the simulation can be printed and given to the patient for reference.

The Hearing Loss Simulator graph includes elementary labels to assist in explaining the patient's hearing loss on the audiogram. Low Pitch and High Pitch display across the top, Soft Sounds and Loud Sounds display along the left side, and Normal Hearing and Needs Amplification display vertically along the right side. Normal Hearing is represented by the green region and Needs Amplification by represented by the red region.

The patient's audiogram (In-situ, NOAH, or ProHear), a normal audiogram, or a preset audiogram can be used during the simulation. The normal audiogram can be selected to demonstrate normal hearing or to compare different hearing losses to normal hearing. Common and/or speech sounds and speech spectrum overlays can be displayed over the audiogram to illustrate the sounds that may be difficult for the patient to hear. In addition, sounds can be played through the computer's speakers by clicking on one or several images. To further demonstrate hearing challenges, audio files can also be played or recorded via Media Player.

1. Click Counseling Toolsvia Get Started.

   Tip:  Click Counseling Tools from the Left Navigation Menu to access.

2. Click Hearing Loss Simulator.

   Tip:  Click Hearing Loss Simulator from the Left Navigation Menu to access.

3. Inspire automatically defaults to a binaural view if applicable. To display only the right or left ear side, click or .

4. Click Patientto display the patient's audiogram, click Normalto display the normal audiogram, or click Presetto display a preset audiogram.

   Note:  If an In-situ audiogram is stored in the hearing aid(s) or an audiogram exists for the patient in NOAH or ProHear, it automatically defaults. If the patient does not have an audiogram, the Patient button is disabled and the Normal audiogram automatically defaults. If Choose an Audiogramis selected, three columns of preset audiograms displays in order of severity. The first column represents a mild hearing loss, the second column represents moderate, and the third column represents severe. If a preset audiogram is selected and either Patient or Normal is later selected, the previously selected preset audiogram is retained (e.g., cookie bite), therefore, if Preset is selected again without navigating to a different screen within Inspire, the previously selected audiogram (e.g., cookie bite) redisplays. A different preset audiogram can be selected per ear side.

5. Click Common Soundsto display five common sound images on the audiogram, click Speech Soundsto display speech phonemes, click Speech Spectrumto display a gray shaded region representing conversational speech with three people images (male, female and child), and/or click Articulation Indexto display the patient’s level of speech recognition based on the audiogram data.

   Note:  Articulation Index is not available if Normal audiogram is selected. The Articulation Index is calculated using the thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz, between the horizontal boundaries of 20 and 45 dB HL. It represents the percentage of the average speech signal that is audible.

6. Click on one or several images to play the sound.

   Note:  Only the images displayed on the Common Sounds and Speech Spectrum overlays can be played. Multiple sound files can be played at the same time. Audio files can be played or recorded via Media Player. Any image(s) and/or audio file that is activated plays according to the audiogram selected for the particular ear side. If a different audiogram is selected while an image(s) and/or audio file is playing, the thresholds are automatically adjusted based on the new audiogram.

7. Click Stop Soundsto stop all sounds currently playing.

   Tip:  Click on the image(s) currently playing to stop the sound. Subsequent clicks of the image(s) toggles between playing and stopping the sound.

   Note:  Clicking Stop Soundsdoes not stop an audio file playing via Media Player. To stop an audio file playing via Media Player, click Stop . To stop an audio file playing via Inspire Toolbar, click Stop .

8. To draw on the audiogram, click the desired color from the palette .

9. Click Arrowto draw an arrow or click Rectangleto draw a rectangle.

   Note:  If an image(s) and/or audio file are currently playing, they're not stopped while in drawing mode. Audio files can be stopped, played, etc. while in drawing mode but images cannot. Images can be stopped or played once drawing mode has been exited .

10. Place the mouse pointer where you want to start the arrow or where to originate the rectangle. Press and hold the left mouse button, drag in any direction until the desired length or size is attained, and then release the left mouse button.

    Tip:  Click Undoto reverse the last drawing action. If more than one drawing action was performed, subsequent clicks reverse multiple drawings in the opposite order in which they were drawn.

11. To draw additional arrows or rectangles in different colors, repeat steps 8-10.

12. Click Exit Drawing Modeto discontinue drawing and hide the drawings.

    Tip:  To redisplay the drawings, click Arrowor Rectangle.

    Note:  Images can now be stopped or played.

13. To print the report, click File or Inspire (if NOAH 3 is installed) from the Menu Bar and click Print or click Print Preview to preview the report before printing.

14. Click Back to return to Counseling Tools or click Go to Lifestyle Solutions to launch Lifestyle Solutions if desired.

    Note:  Once another Inspire screen is accessed, all drawings are erased and if an image(s) and/or audio file is currently playing, it's automatically stopped.