Audiometric testing, analyzing, and recording apparatus and method

An audiometer comprising in combination:

• (a) a first processor including a first memory;
• (b) coupling means for optionally coupling and decoupling said audiometer to a second processor having a second memory capable of storing a plurality of prior threshold levels obtained by past teaching of a first person to allow the audiometer to be operated, without physical modification thereto, either with or without accessing the second computer to fetch prior threshold levels of the first person;
• (c) keyboard means responsive to said first processor for effecting manual entry of said plurality of prior threshold levels if said plurality of prior threshold levels are not stored in said second memory and said audiometer is not operatively coupled by said coupling means to said second processor;
• (d) control means responsive to said first processor for digitally controlling selection of test tone frequencies and test tone intensities in accordance with a threshold bracketing subroutine stored in said first memory to effect determining a plurality of present threshold levels of the first person at a plurality of the selected test tone frequencies, respectively, said first processor effecting temporary storing of said plurality of said present threshold levels in said first memory, said first processor also effecting computing of a threshold shift which has occurred since the past testing of the first person by averaging the differences between respective corresponding ones of said plurality of present threshold levels and said plurality of prior threshold levels;
• and
• (e) printing means responsive to said first processor for printing information indicative of whether said threshold shift is significant.

A method for audiometric testing of a first person by utilizing an audiometer located at the site of audiometric testing of the first person, the audiometer including

• (i) a first processor,
• (ii) a first memory included in the first processor,
• (iii) coupling means for optionally operatively coupling, at the option of an operator, the audiometer to a second processor, the second processor being a remote processor including a second memory capable of storing a plurality of prior threshold levels previously obtained by past audiometric testing of the first person, said audiometer being operable, with no modification thereto, to effect said audiometric testing with or without being operatively coupled to the second processor, said coupling means including mode selection means for enabling the operator to select either a mode of operation of said audiometer wherein said audiometer is operatively coupled to the second processor or a mode of operation wherein said audiometer is not operatively coupled to the second processor,
• (iv) a printer coupled to the first processor, said method comprising the steps of:
• (a) manually entering said plurality of prior threshold levels into the audiometer, if the audiometer is not operatively connected by the coupling means to the second processor and said plurality of prior threshold levels is not contained in the second memory, the audiometer including keyboard means coupled to the first processor for manual entry of audiometric information into the audiometer;
• (b) utilizing the first processor to effect transfer of said plurality of prior threshold levels from the keyboard means to the first memory if the audiometer is not operatively coupled to the second processor;
• (c) utilizing the first processor to access the second processor via the coupling means to request the second processor to fetch said plurality of prior threshold levels from the second memory if the audiometer is coupled by the coupling means to the second processor;
• (d) utilizing the second processor to fetch said plurality of prior threshold levels from the second memory and to transmit the plurality of prior threshold levels to the first processor via the coupling means in response to said request and then operatively decoupling the second processor from the audiometer;
• (e) utilizing the first processor to digitally control selection of test tone frequencies and test tone intensities in accordance with a threshold bracketing subroutine stored in the first memory for execution by the first processor to determine a plurality of present threshold levels of the first person at the selected test tone frequencies, respectively;
• (f) utilizing the first processor to temporarily store said plurality of present threshold levels;
• (g) utilizing the first processor to compute a threshold shift which has occurred in the first person since said previous audiometric testing;
• and
• (h) utilizing the first processor to effect printing of said threshold shift by the printer.

An audiometer comprising in combination:

• (a) a first processor including a first memory;
• (b) coupling means for optionally coupling and decoupling said audiometer to a second processor having a second memory capable of storing a plurality of prior threshold levels obtained by past testing of a first person to allow the audiometer to be operated, without modification, either with or without accessing the second computer to fetch prior threshold levels of the first person;
• (c) keyboard means responsive to said first processor for effecting manual entry of said plurality of prior threshold levels if said plurality of prior threshold levels are not stored in said second memory and said audiometer is not operatively coupled by said coupling means to said second processor;
• (d) conrol means responsive to said first processor for digitally controlling selection of test tone frequencies and test tone intensities in accordance with a threshold bracketing subroutine stored in said first memory to effect determining a plurality of present threshold levels of the first person at a plurality of the selected test tone frequencies, respectively, said first processor effecting temporary storing of said plurality of said present threshold levels in said first memory, said first processor also effecting computing of a threshold shift which has occurred since the past testing of the first person by averaging the differences between respective corresponding ones of said plurality of present threshold levels and said plurality of prior threshold levels;
• and
• (e) printing means responsive to said first processor for printing said threshold shift.