US 12,453,491 B2
Probe insertion methods and apparatus
Jonathan Mark Pietrobon, London (CA)
Assigned to Interacoustics A/S, Middelfart (DK)
Filed by INTERACOUSTICS A/S, Middelfart (DK)
Filed on Jul. 10, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/507,449.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/822,307, filed on Mar. 22, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0297252 A1, Sep. 24, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 5/12 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/107 (2006.01); H04R 25/00 (2006.01); H04R 29/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/126 (2013.01) [A61B 5/1076 (2013.01); A61B 5/6817 (2013.01); H04R 25/70 (2013.01); H04R 29/004 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A probe insertion apparatus for real ear measurement, the apparatus comprising:
a flexible hollow tube having a sound receiving end operationally positioned in an ear canal, and a sound output end operationally positioned outside the ear canal and sonically coupled to a measurement microphone located outside the ear canal;
a reference microphone operationally positioned outside the ear canal;
a reference speaker operationally positioned outside the ear canal to emit reference sound towards the ear canal;
an operator feedback device comprising at least one of a display, speaker, vibrator, and an arrangement of light sources;
a memory storing computer readable instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed configure the processor to:
direct the reference speaker to continually emit the reference sound, without pause and without interruption, during a probing duration during which the sound receiving end of the flexible hollow tube is moved within the ear canal from an initial position to a final position for obtaining the real ear measurement, and
during the probing duration,
continually receive, without pause and without interruption, reference signals from the reference microphone and tympanic reflection signals from the measurement microphone,
repeatedly calculate a tympanic distance between the sound receiving end of the flexible hollow tube and a tympanic membrane based on the reference signals and the tympanic reflection signals, without referencing any calibration measurement, as the operator moves the sound receiving end towards the tympanic membrane, wherein each repetition of calculating the tympanic distance occurs without regard to movement of the sound receiving end and without regard to positioning of the sound receiving end within the ear canal, and
automatically direct the operator feedback device to provide indicia of the repeatedly calculated tympanic distance between the sound receiving end of the flexible hollow tube and a tympanic membrane, as the operator moves the sound receiving end towards the tympanic membrane between the initial and final positions, said indicia comprising at least one of visual indicia, auditory indicia, and haptic indicia.