Pupil dilation indicates auditory signal detection - towards an objective hearing test based on eye-tracking

• Purpose: The long-term objective of this project is to develop an objective hearing threshold test that can be used in early infancy, using pupildilation as an indicator of hearing. The study purposes are 1) to identify relevant time-windows for analysis of pupillary responses to various auditory stimuli in adults, and 2) to evaluate a trial-minus-baseline approach to deal with unrelated pupillary responses in adults. Method: Participants’ pupil size is recorded using a Tobii T120 Eye-tracker. In the first test, participants fixate on a blank screen while sound stimuli are presented. From this data, typical pupillary responses and the relevant analysis time-window is determined and used in future tests. In the second test, participants watch movie clips while sound stimuli are presented. Visually identical sound and no-sound trials will be compared in order to isolate the pupillary changes tied to hearing sound from those related to changes in brightness in the visual stimuli. Results and conclusion: Data is currently being collected. Results from the pilot study indicate that the pupillary response related to sound detection occurs at around 900 ms after stimulus onset, and that a trial-minus-baseline approach is a viable option to eliminate unrelated pupillary responses.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Oto-rhino-laryngologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Otorhinolaryngology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datorteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

eyetracking

hearing threshold

pupillometry

Oto-Rhino-Laryngology

oto-rhino-laryngologi

datorteknik

Computer Systems

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)