This proposal will develop a new Evoked Potential (EP) acquisition device for neurosensory diagnostic and evaluation procedures. In contrast to conventional or mean averaging EP acquisition systems, the proposed device will implement mean, median and weighted averaging in a single system. The median and weighted methods will provide high resolution EPs with less susceptibility to internal and external noise sources. The device will have significant commercial potential in audiological (neonatal screening), otoneurological (intraoperative monitoring), and other applications requiring ensemble averaging. Auditory Brain stem Responses will be used in a series of experiments to determine the optimal analog-to-digital converter resolution, averaging technique and signal-to-noise (SNR) estimator. Three experts will score recordings on a 10 point quality continuum in order to validate the performance of the proposed techniques. Six averaging techniques will be evaluated: Standard, four types of Weighted (Variance, Standard Deviation, Amplitude and Bayesian) and Median. Four types of SNR estimators (Maximum Likelihood, Correlation, Variance and Percentile) will also be evaluated. The prototype device will include one weighted averaging technique, an optimized median averaging method and standard averaging. Each technique will be optimized to yield the best quality recording obtained in the fewest number of sweeps.
The device will have significant commercial potential in audiological, otoneurological, and other applications requiring ensemble averaging. Auditory Brainstem Responses will be used in a series of experiments to determine the optimal averaging technique and signal-to-noise (SNR) estimator.
