EPL PXI System Overview

As schematized in Figure 1, the hardware/software system used throughout the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories (EPL) to measure cochlear function, i.e. auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), is simple and compact in design, allowing it to be cloned by research groups with minimal electronics support.

Figure 1: Schematic of the EPL Core system for measurement of ABRs and DPOAEs

This combined stimulus-generation/data-acquisition system consists of 1) commercial hardware components costing roughly $16,000 (Table 1), 2) the EPL cochlear function software, available for free download, 3) two EPL custom hardware devices requiring some simple circuit assembly and 4) the EPL acoustic system, which can be assembled from a) commercial miniature dynamic earphones and a hearing aid microphone and b) a molded plastic shell obtained via commercial stereolithography using an EPL-designed STEP file available for free upon request; total cost for one acoustic system is ~$150. 1. Commercial Hardware Components The computer for the EPL ABR/DPOAE system is incorporated into a device from National Instruments (NI) called a PXI chassis. This chassis couples an embedded processor (running a Windows-based OS) to 778932-01 digital input/output (I-O) PXI System NI PXI-1031 4-Slot 3U PXI Chassis NI PXI-8108 Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz boards via a fast bus. For 780446-01 Controller, Win XP the EPL ABR/DPOAE Total Cost ~$10,000 4 GB DDR2 RAM for PXI(e)-8101/02/08 system, we use one 24-bit 780446-4096 and PXI-8110 Controllers board with 2 output (signal) NI PXI-4461 24-Bit, 2-Input/2-Output 778442-01 and 2 input (response) NI PXI-6221 16-Bit, 16 Channel 779629-01 channels (Fig. 1). The large NI BNC-2110 Connector Block & Cable 777643-01 & 192061-02 dynamic range afforded by the 24-bit depth eliminates Grass Instruments Amp & Power Supply CP-511 & RPS-312 the need for signal Amplifiers Etymotic Research Microphone Preamp ER10C Total Cost attenuators on the output TDT Stereo Amp & Power Supply (zbus) SA-1 channels and provides low ~$3,500 noise floors on the input 377B10 (response) side. A second Calibration Larson-Davis 1/4" Microphone (optional) I-O board (16-bit) System Larson Davis Preamp 426B03 426B03 is useful to provide an Total Cost Larson-Davis Signal Conditioner 480C02 output trigger synched to ~$2,600 Larson-Davis Calibrator plus 1/4" Adaptor CAL200 & 079A04 the stimulus presentation Table 1: Commercial components for the EPL ABR/DPOAE system rate, as well as to provide

other output and input ports for future development. The signal outputs (2 channels of digital signal generation) drive a 2-channel audio amplifier (SA-1 from Tucker Davis Technologies), which in turn drive the 2 speakers in the acoustic system, via a custom 2-channel equalizer circuit (see below) designed to attenuate the lowfrequency output. Two separate channels minimize system distortion when presenting two primary tones (for DPOAEs). For ABRs, only one output channel is used. The response inputs to the digital I-O board are first amplified: 1) to measure ear-canal SPL, the signal from the probe tube microphone is amplified via the battery-powered preamp in the Etymotics ER10C system; 2) to measure sound-evoked auditory potentials, the ABR leads are fed to a low-impedance amplifier such as those made by Grass Instruments. To calibrate the sensitivity of the probe tube microphone, i.e. volts/dB SPL as a function of frequency, three other pieces of commercial hardware are needed: 1) a calibrator to produce a tone of known SPL, 2) a ! condenser microphone to measure the SPL at the acoustic-system speaker port and 3) a microphone preamp. Further details on calibration procedures are found in the EPL Cochlear Function Test Suite Users Manual. 2. EPL Cochlear Function Software EPL Core Engineers have written a software suite, the EPL Cochlear Function Test Suite (CFTS), which controls all aspects of stimulus generation, stimulus calibration, data acquisition and data storage for measurement of ABRs and DPOAEs. The software suite is in LabVIEW, and can be downloaded as executable compiled code. A LabVIEW license is not necessary to use the program: a (free) LabVIEW Runtime Engine and suite of compatible hardware drivers (NI-DAQmx) can be downloaded from NI. Detailed instructions for downloading drivers and configuring the PXI processor to run the software can be found in the EPL PXI Configuration Manual. Source code for the CFTS may also be downloaded, for those wishing to modify the code. The CFTS runs both the DPOAE and ABR tests as stimulus-level sweeps, i.e. the user chooses a stimulus frequency (or list of frequencies), a start level (in dB SPL), a stop level (in dB SPL) and a step size (in dB). The amount of response averaging is under user control, as well as an artifact reject threshold to eliminate noisy response traces. After the DPOAE amplitude-vs-level data are obtained, iso-response contours are automatically calculated, i.e. the primary level required, as a function of frequency, to produce a DPOAE of criterion amplitude (e.g. 0 dB SPL). For more detail, see the EPL Cochlear Function Test Suite Users Manual. Coming soon: the ABR Wave Analyzer, a separate analysis application to automate the identification of Waves 1-5 and store their amplitudes and latencies in spreadsheet format. 3. EPL Custom Hardware There are two pieces of custom hardware that are either needed or recommended for optimum performance of the EPL ABR/DPOAE system. The Dual Channel Equalizer is recommended to attenuate low frequency signals. It is a highpass filter with a 12 dB/octave rolloff and a cutoff frequency of 10 kHz. Without it, the maximum levels produced at lower frequencies can exceed 130 dB. The Microphone Bias Box provides 1.5 volt power to the embedded preamp in the electret microphone and adds a high-pass filter (cutoff at 30 Hz) to remove the DC component from the output signal. Circuit diagrams for these simple devices are available in the EPL Acoustic System Assembly Manual.

4. EPL Acoustic System The EPL acoustic system is designed specifically for measurement of DPOAEs and ABRs in high-frequency animals such as mouse or rat. As shown in Figure 2, each of its two miniature dynamic earphones can produce SPLs in excess of 90 dB SPL at most frequencies between 1 Hz and 60 kHz. When incorporated into the EPL stimulusgeneration/data-acquisition system, the electret condenser microphone used as a probe tube microphone has noise floors below -10 dB SPL at most frequencies. When measuring the DPOAEs in response to two primary tones (f1 and f2), the system-produced distortion at 2f1-f2 is at least 80 dB down from the primaries. A fully assembled system is shown in Figure 3A,B. Briefly, EPL Acoustic System the assembly process involves: 1) ordering the molded coupler body (Fig. 3A,C) from a commercial stereolithography service using the EPL-designed STEP file (a type of high-precision CAM file) 2) cutting and inserting stainless steel tubing for the probe tube and speaker output ports (Fig. 3A,C) 3) soldering small wires to the probe tube microphone and inserting the assembly into a protective tubing (Fig. 3D) and then into the molded coupler body (Fig. 3A)
Figure 2: Maximum output of the

Figure 3: The EPL Acoustic System

4) soldering small wires to the speakers (Fig. 3E) and to a small connector to be affixed to a flat on the molded coupler body (Fig. 3B) 5) Inserting a support rod into the cylindrical cavity in the molded coupler body (Fig. 3B) Detailed ordering and assembly instructions for the coupler body, microphones, speakers and connectors are provided in the EPL Acoustic System Assembly Manual.