Audiometer

Abstract

The aim is to simplify resource planning in a clinic or by a hearing aid technician. For this purpose, an audiometer and a method for operating an audiometer are proposed in which, following a simple hearing test, in addition to information as to whether treatment of a user with a hearing aid is necessary, the presence of any hearing-loss class in which the user can be grouped is also shown. In this way, the expense with regard to time, materials and personnel required for matching a hearing aid to a particular user can be more easily estimated.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in more detail in the following with the aid of an exemplary embodiment. The drawings are as follows.

FIG. 1 An audiometer according to the invention,

FIG. 2 The flowchart of a hearing test carried out with the audiometer.

Claims

1.-18. (canceled)

19. An audiometer for detecting a hearing loss of a person, comprising: a stimulation device that stimulates a hearing of the person;a detection device that detects a reaction of the person to the stimulation; andan evaluation device that automatically evaluates the detected reaction so that a specific hearing loss class defining a degree of hearing difficulty is assigned to the person.

20. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the hearing loss class is selected from a plurality of possible hearing loss classes.

21. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a device that indicates the assigned hearing loss class.

22. The audiometer as claimed in claim 21, further comprising a device that indicates a specific hearing aid category with a suitable treatment for the specific hearing loss class assigned to the person.

23. The audiometer as claimed in claim 22, wherein the hearing loss class or the hearing aid category is visually indicated.

24. The audiometer as claimed in claim 22, wherein the hearing aid category is selected from a plurality of possible hearing aid categories.

25. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the stimulation device is a sound generator.

26. The audiometer as claimed in claim 25, wherein a plurality of acoustic signals with a plurality of different signal frequencies is generated by the sound generator and is outputted for stimulating the hearing.

27. The audiometer as claimed in claim 25, wherein a plurality of acoustic signals with a plurality of different sound pressure levels is generated by the sound generator and is outputted for stimulating the hearing.

28. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, wherein data of the hearing loss class is transmitted to a hearing aid or a hearing aid adapter unit.

29. The audiometer as claimed in claim 28, wherein a hearing aid setting parameter is generated from the data of the hearing loss class and is transmitted to the hearing aid.

30. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the audiometer is a remote control for a hearing aid.

31. The audiometer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the audiometer is integrated into a computer-aided workflow management system.

32. A hearing aid, comprising: an audiometer integrated with the hearing aid that detects a hearing loss of a user of the hearing aid, the audiometer comprising:a sound generator that stimulates a hearing of the person,a detection device that detects a reaction of the person to the stimulation, andan evaluation device that automatically evaluates the detected reaction so that a specific hearing loss class defining a degree of hearing difficulty is assigned to the person.

33. A method for detecting a hearing loss of a person using an audiometer, comprising: stimulating a hearing of the person with a plurality of different acoustic signals;detecting reactions of the person to the different acoustic signals;evaluating the reactions;determining a hearing loss class of a degree of hearing difficulty to the person based on the evaluation; andoutputting the determined hearing loss class.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the different acoustic signals comprise a plurality of different signal frequencies or a plurality of different sound pressure levels.

35. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein a hearing aid category is determined based on the hearing loss class with a hearing aid treatment suitable for compensating the hearing loss of the person and the determined hearing aid category is outputted.

36. The method as claimed in claim 33, further comprising: stimulating the hearing of the person with a first acoustic signal with a first signal frequency and a first sound pressure level,indicating a first hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person does not hear the first acoustic signal and ending the stimulating,stimulating the hearing of the person with a second acoustic signal with a second signal frequency and a second sound pressure level if the person hears the first acoustic signal,stimulating the hearing of the person with a third acoustic signal with a second signal frequency and a third sound pressure level if the person does not hear the second acoustic signal,indicating a first hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person does not hear the third acoustic signal and ending the stimulating,stimulating the hearing of the person with a fourth acoustic signal with a third signal frequency and a second sound pressure level if the person hears the third acoustic signal,indicating a first hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person does not hear the fourth acoustic signal and ending the stimulating,indicating a second hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person hears the fourth acoustic signal and ending the stimulating,stimulating the hearing of the person with a fifth acoustic signal with a third signal frequency and a second sound pressure level if the person hears the second acoustic signal,indicating a first hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person does not hear the fifth acoustic signal and ending the stimulating,stimulating the hearing of the person with a sixth acoustic signal with a first signal frequency and a second sound pressure level if the person hears the fifth acoustic signal,indicating a second hearing aid category by the audiometer if the person does not hear the sixth acoustic signal and ending the stimulating, anddisplaying a symbol by the audiometer to indicate that the person hears the sixth acoustic signal and ending the stimulating.

37. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the first signal frequency is 3 kHz, the second signal frequency is 1 kHz, and the third signal frequency is 375 Hz.

38. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the first sound pressure level is 75 dB, the second sound pressure level is 35 dB, and the third sound pressure level is 55 dB.