WO2007039843A2

WO2007039843A2 - Medical instrument with integrated audio for patient listening

Info

Publication number: WO2007039843A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/053293
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vlatko Milosevski; Marija Grueva
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV; US Philips Corp
Current assignee: Koninklijke Philips NV; US Philips Corp
Priority date: 2005-10-06
Filing date: 2006-09-14
Publication date: 2007-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2008-04-06
Also published as: WO2007039843A3

Abstract

A medical instrument (10, 10') includes at least one medically functional component (20, 22, 24, 100, 102, 104), and an ear coupler (16, 16') adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal (EC) to operatively contact the at least one medically iunctional component with a patient. A medically non-iunctional audio player (40) is disposed on the medical instrument, and includes a sound-generating element (42, 42', 44) arranged to generate sound that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal, a memory (50) storing relaxing or entertaining audio content, and audio player electronics (48) configured to drive the sound-generating element to play the relaxing or entertaining audio content.

Description

OTOSCOPE WITH INTEGRATED AUDIO FOR PATIENT LISTENING

DESCRIPTION

The following relates to the medical arts. It finds particular application in otoscopes and otological examinations employing same, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it also finds more general application in medical instruments generally, including otoscopes, ear thermometers, and the like, that operate by coupling with a patient's ear.

Ear infections are a common pediatric medical problem. Children suffering from an ear infection are typically frightened or nervous when taken to a pediatrician or ear specialist for medical examination. Moreover, the infected ear may be sore to the touch. Such a child is likely to become upset, start crying, turn his or her head away, or otherwise react negatively to attempts to insert the speculum of an otoscope into the infected ear. This makes examination of the infected ear using the otoscope difficult.

Similar problems arise in the pediatric application of other medical instruments that couple with the ear. For example, an ear thermometer is uncomfortable for the child, and so the child may remove the ear thermometer from contact with the ear canal before an accurate temperature reading can be obtained.

These problems are well recognized in the medical community, but have not been well addressed. In one existing approach, a toy-like object is disposed on the otoscope in an attempt to amuse, pacify, or placate the child. However, the toy-like object is not visible to the child when the otoscope is inserted into the ear canal, which is when the child is most likely to react negatively.

Even in the case of adults, the use of otoscopes, ear thermometers, and other medical instruments that couple with the ear is uncomfortable. Adults, like children, can become nervous or frightened in the doctor's office or other medical setting, and such emotions are magnified when an otoscope, ear thermometer, or the like is applied.

According to one aspect, a medical apparatus is disclosed which is configured for coupling with a patient's ear. The medical apparatus includes a medical instrument and a medically non-iunctional audio player. The medical instrument includes at least one medically functional component, and an ear coupler adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal to operatively contact the at least one medically functional component to the patient. The medically non-functional audio player is disposed on the medical instrument, and includes a sound-generating element arranged to generate sound that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal, a memory storing audio content, and audio player electronics configured to drive the sound-generating element to play the audio content.

According to another aspect, a medical method is disclosed. A medical instrument is coupled with a patient's ear. The medical instrument includes at least one medically functional component, and an ear coupler adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal to operatively connect the at least one medically functional component with the patient. Medically non-functional audio content is played that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal. The playing uses a sound generating element arranged on the medical instrument to generate sound that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal.

One advantage resides in reduced patient stress in medical procedures that employ an instrument coupled with the patient's ear.

Another advantage resides in improved patient cooperation in medical procedures that employ an instrument inserted into the patient's ear. Another advantage resides in more rapid and accurate otological diagnosis.

Another advantage resides in providing more patient-friendly otoscopes.

Numerous additional advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

The invention may take form in various components and arrangements of components, and in various process operations and arrangements of process operations. The drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. FIGURE 1 diagrammatically shows an otoscope including a built-in audio player for playing audio content during ear examination. Internal components are drawn using dotted lines.

FIGURE 2 diagrammatically show the speculum of the otoscope of FIGURE 1 partially inserted into an ear canal.

FIGURE 3 diagrammatically shows an ear thermometer including a built-in audio player for playing audio content during the acquisition of a temperature reading. Internal components are drawn using dotted lines.

With reference to FIGURE 1, an otoscope 10 includes a housing including a head portion 12 and a handle portion 14. A substantially hollow, generally conical, funnel-shaped, or frustrum-shaped speculum 16 is attached to the head portion 12 to operatively couple the otoscope 10 with an ear. The otoscope 10 includes an internal light source such as a lamp 20, magnifying optics 22, 24 and so forth.

As best seen in FIGURE 2 (where only the speculum 16 is shown for simplicity) doctor, ear specialist or other clinician inserts the speculum 16 of the otoscope 10 into an ear canal EC of an ear E, and looks along the viewing direction V (diagrammatically indicated in FIGURES 1 and 2 by block arrows) into the optics 22, 24 to view a tympanic membrane TM (commonly called the "eardrum"), walls of the ear canal EC, or other internal features of the ear E. In FIGURE 2, internal ear components including the tympanic membrane TM and the ear canal EC are drawn using dashed lines. In some embodiments, a video camera, CCD camera, or the like (not shown) may view and/or record images along the viewing direction V.

FIGURE 1 diagrammatically shows certain basic aspects of an otoscope. Specific embodiments may incorporate different, additional, and/or other features. For example, some embodiments may include optical fibers (not shown) or other optical components that guide illumination light from the lamp 20 to the tip of the speculum so as to more effectively illuminate the ear. Some embodiments may replace the lamp 20 with a light emitting diode (LED), a laser diode, or other suitable light source. The viewing optics can differ substantially from the simple two-lenses 22, 24 arrangement shown in FIGURE 1, and may or may not provide magnification. Some embodiments may include insufflation capability, drug or fluid delivery capability, or so forth. In the illustrated otoscope 10, the speculum 16 is removable or disposable for improved sanitation. However, a permanent speculum can also be employed.

Typically, the clinician holds the otoscope 10 by the handle portion 14 of the housing when viewing the ear E. In some embodiments, an internal power source such as a battery 26 provides electrical power to operate the lamp 20 via electrical power conductors 28. In other embodiments, power for the lamp 20 is provided via a power cord 30, optionally after being conditioned by power conditioning circuitry (not shown) disposed in the handle portion 14. In some embodiments, both the internal power source 26 and the external power cord 30 may be provided, and in some such embodiments the power cord 30 may be used to recharge the internal power source 26.

To help relax and reassure the patient during otological examination employing the otoscope 10, a medically non-iunctional audio player 40 is disposed on the otoscope 10. The medically non-iunctional audio player 40 includes a sound-generating element such as a speaker 42 disposed in the speculum 16, or a speaker 44 disposed in the head portion 12 of the housing adjacent the speculum 16. Optionally, more than one speaker may be provided, such as both speakers 42, 44. The speaker 42 is preferably a low-power earphone-type speaker designed to give good audio quality when placed in the ear canal EC. The speaker 44 is preferably a slightly higher-power headphone-type speaker designed to give good audio quality when placed adjacent the ear E. For either an earphone-type speaker or a headphone-type speaker, the playing is substantially inaudible except to the patient into whose ear canal the speculum or ear coupler 16 is at least partially inserted.

The medically non-iunctional audio player 40 further includes audio player electronics 48 configured to drive the sound-generating element 42, 44 to play the audio content stored in a memory 50. In the illustrated embodiment, the memory 50 is a solid-state electronic FLASH memory. However, other types of memory such as EPROM, EEPROM, ROM, or other electronic memory, a magnetic memory such as a micro-hard drive, a micro-optical disk, or so forth are also contemplated. In the illustrated embodiment, the audio player electronics 48 and memory 50 are integrated circuit components disposed on a printed circuit board 52, which may optionally include other components such as current limiters, resistors, capacitors, or so forth. In the illustrated embodiment, the printed circuit board 52 receives electrical power for driving the audio player electronics 48 and the memory 50 via wires 54 also connected with the internal power source 26. In some embodiments, the audio player electronics 48 are suitably embodied by a PNXOlOx IC audio processor (available from Koninklijke Philips Electronics N. V., Eindhoven, The Netherlands), which provides a one-chip solution for personal audio and supports MP3, AAC, and other audio decompression algorithms.

In some embodiments, the memory 50 is a read-only memory that stores entertaining musical content, narrative content, or other suitable audio content for relaxing, reassuring, or otherwise comforting the patient. For child patients, the audio content can be, for example: children's songs; audio tracks from cartoons; narrative readings from children's books; or so forth. For adult patients, the audio content can be soothing classical, jazz, or other music, relaxing sounds such as ocean waves, wind, or running water, or so forth.

In some embodiments, the memory 50 is a read-write memory in which the audio content can be written to the memory 50 from a suitable recording element such as a data bus or a microphone. For example, the PNXOlOl and PNXO 102 model audio processors support USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 serial communication, respectively, enabling loading of audio content into the memory 50 via an optional USB port or interface 60. In some contemplated embodiments, a microphone 62 is disposed on the otoscope 10, and the audio player electronics 48 are configured to selectively operate the microphone 62 to record real-time sound to the memory 50.

The otoscope 10 includes one or more suitable controls for operating the lamp 20 and any optional features of the otoscope, and suitable controls for operating the medically non- functional audio player 40. In some embodiments, the same control or set of controls operates both the medically functional components of the otoscope 10 (such as the lamp 20) and the medically non- functional audio player 40. In the example shown in FIGURE 1, a single push-button control 66 operates both the lamp 20 and the medically non- functional audio player 40. For example, if there is only a single audio track, then the push-button 66 can turn both the lamp 20 and the medically non- functional audio player 40 on and off in synch. More complex control sequences can be employed, for example to enable access to a plurality of audio tracks. In one suitable multi-track approach, with the lamp 20 and medically non-functional audio player 40 both initially off, pressing the push-button 66 once turns on the lamp 20 and causes the medically non-functional audio player 40 to initiate playing of a first song. Pressing the push-button 66 a second time switches the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 to a second song. Pressing the push-button 66 a third time switches the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 to a third song. Pressing the push-button 66 a fourth time switches off both the lamp 20 and the medically non-iunctional audio player 40. In this control approach, the medically non-functional audio player 40 plays during substantially the entire otological examination.

In other embodiments, separate controls or separate sets of controls may be provided for operating the medically functional components of the otoscope 10, and the medically non-iunctional audio player 40, respectively. This can be useful, for example, if it is desired to have the option of not playing audio content during the otological examination. The controls can be more complex if desired. For example, five push buttons can be provided to select from five available songs or other audio tracks. For more complex operations, such as loading new audio content to read-write memory, the USB port or interface 60 is optionally connected to a computer that runs software for managing the memory content of the medically non-iunctional audio player 40.

The choice of sound-generating element for the medically non-functional audio player 40 is made based on various considerations. For example, using the speaker 42 disposed in the speculum 16 advantageously provides close coupling between the speaker 42 and the ear E. However, if the speculum 16 is removable, then suitable quick-connect/quick-disconnect electrical connections (not shown) should be provided to couple the speaker 42 on the speculum 16 with the audio player electronics 48 disposed on the handle portion 14 of the otoscope 10. On the other hand, using the speaker 44 provides less close coupling between the speaker 44 and the ear E. However, the speaker 44 is not attached to the speculum 16, facilitating use of removable or disposable speculums. For embodiments employing the speaker 44 adjacent the speculum 16, it is contemplated to make the speculum 16 acoustically transmissive so that the speculum 16 helps channel sound from the speaker 44 to the tympanic membrane TM.

With reference to FIGURE 3, it is to be appreciated that the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 is suitably integrated into other medical instruments that include at least one medically functional component operatively connected with a patient by a speculum or other ear coupler adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal. FIGURE 3 shows an ear thermometer 10' that includes a housing 14' housing the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 and the battery 26. An LCD display 100 provides temperature readout acquired by a thermocouple 102 disposed in an ear coupler 16'. Thermometer electronics 104 disposed in the housing 14' convert the thermocouple voltage to temperature. Unlike the otoscope 10, the ear thermometer 10' does not utilize an optical line-of-sight through the ear coupler 16'; accordingly, a speaker 42' can be disposed in the ear coupler 16' closer to the tip than in the case of the speaker 42 of the otoscope 10. Alternatively or additionally, the recessed speaker 44 adjacent the ear coupler 16' can be used.

The control 66 suitably operates in substantially the same way as in the case of the otoscope 10. With the thermometer electronics 104, the LCD display 100, and the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 all initially off, pressing the push-button 66 once turns on the thermometer electronics 104, LCD display 100, and causes the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 to initiate playing of a first song. Pressing the push-button 66 a second time switches the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 to a second song. Pressing the push-button 66 a third time switches the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 to a third song. Pressing the push-button 66 a fourth time switches off the thermometer electronics 104, the LCD display 100, and the medically non-iunctional audio player 40. In this control approach, the medically non-iunctional audio player 40 plays continuously over at least the effective time for acquiring the temperature measurement. The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments.

Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMSHaving described the preferred embodiments, the invention is now claimed to be:

1. A medical apparatus configured for coupling with a patient's ear, the medical apparatus comprising: a medical instrument (10, 10') including: at least one medically functional component (20, 22, 24, 100, 102, 104), and an ear coupler (16, 16') adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal (EC) to operatively contact the at least one medically functional component to the patient; and a medically non-iunctional audio player (40) disposed on the medical instrument, the medically non-iunctional audio player including: a sound-generating element (42, 42', 44) arranged to generate sound audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal, a memory (50) storing audio content, and audio player electronics (48) configured to drive the sound-generating element to play the audio content.

2. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the medical instrument is an otoscope (10).

3. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the otoscope (10) includes: a power delivery element selected from a group consisting of (i) a power source (26) disposed with the otoscope and (ii) a power cord (30) connected with the otoscope; and an internal light source (20) arranged to illuminate an examination subject (EC, TM) through the ear coupler (16); the power delivery element delivering electrical power both to the internal light source (20) of the otoscope and to the medically non-iunctional audio player (40).

4. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the medical instrument is an ear thermometer (10').

5. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the sound-generating element is a speaker (42, 42', 44) disposed inside or adjacent the ear coupler (16, 16').

6. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the medically non-iunctional audio player (40) further includes at least one of: an electrical power supply (26) for selectively powering at least the medically non-iunctional audio player; and, a power cord (30) adapted to connect with an associated external power supply to power at least the medically non- functional audio player.

7. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the medically non-iunctional audio player (40) further includes: at least one selection control (66) operable to select a portion of the stored audio content for play.

8. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the memory (50) is a read-only memory.

9. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the audio content stored in the read-only memory (50) includes musical content.

10. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the audio content stored in the read-only memory (50) includes narrative content.

11. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the memory (50) is a FLASH memory.

12. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the memory (50) is a read-write memory, and the medically non- functional audio player (40) further includes: a recording element (60, 62) for writing audio content to the read- write memory.

13. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein the recording element is a microphone (62), the audio player electronics (48) being further configured to selectively operate the microphone to record real-time sound to the read-write memory (50).

14. The medical apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein the recording element is a USB port or interface (60), the audio player electronics (48) being further configured to selectively transfer audio content to the read-write memory (50) via the USB port or interlace.

15. A medical method comprising: contacting a medical instrument (10, 10') with a patient's ear, the medical instrument including: at least one medically functional component (20, 22, 24, 100, 102,

104), and an ear coupler (16, 16') adapted for at least partial insertion into an ear canal (EC) to operatively contact the at least one medically functional component to the patient; and playing medically non-iunctional audio content that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal, the playing using a sound-generating element (42, 42', 44) arranged on the medical instrument to generate sound that is audible to the patient when the ear coupler is at least partially inserted into the patient's ear canal.

16. The medical method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the playing is substantially inaudible except to the patient into whose ear canal (EC) the ear coupler (16, 16') is at least partially inserted.

17. The medical method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the medical instrument is an otoscope (10), and the medical method further includes: examining an examination subject (EC, TM) through the ear coupler (16) using the coupled otoscope during the playing.

18. The medical method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the medical instrument is an ear thermometer (10'), and the medical method further includes: decoupling the ear thermometer from the patient's ear after an effective time for acquiring a temperature measurement, the playing being continuous over at least the effective time for acquiring the temperature measurement.

19. The medical method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the playing step includes playing at least one of music, narratives, and relaxing sounds.

20. The medical method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the playing step includes playing one of a children's song, a children's story, and a cartoon sound track.