Measurement of the depth-dependent resonance of water-loaded human lungs.

An experiment was conducted to determine the response of the human lung to water-borne sound in the range of 20 to 500 Hz. A small pool inside a hyperbaric chamber was used to simulate four ambient pressure conditions spanning the range of recreational diving depths. Ten subjects were tested on two occasions each using three separate measures to evaluate the response of the subjects' lungs.

Hearing function in a hyperbaric environment.

Navy divers' hearing function was assessed as part of three saturation deep dives to 1,000 feet of sea water (fsw) to determine explanations for threshold shifts observed under hyperbaric conditions. Across the three deep dives, different aspects of the ear were evaluated, including air- and bone-conduction pure-tone thresholds, real ear probe microphone measurements, auditory evoked potentials, and central auditory processing assessments. Attempts to measure middle ear function and cochlear function (through otoacoustic emissions) were unsuccessful.

Toward implementation of a flexible hearing aid measurement system.

An evaluation of a computerized hearing aid measurement system was performed with input and output compression hearing aids stimulated using high-quality audio equipment. The results of the computer measurements were compared to those from a manual technique using conventional laboratory instrumentation. The results from the computerized and manual methods matched very closely.

Audio-visual consonant recognition with the 3M/House cochlear implant.

Eight experienced 3M/House cochlear implant users' consonant recognition was evaluated with videotaped vowel-consonant vowel lists presented in auditory implant only (A), visual (V), and auditory-visual (AV) conditions. All subjects' scores were better than chance. Results revealed that the AV scores were significantly better than the V scores, which were better than the A scores.

Towards a general measure of distortion.

An approach to the measurement of distortion in hearing aids is presented. Distortion is first defined in general terms. The technique is then applied to the specific problem of predicting the detectability of non-linear distortion.