KR101831814B1 - Apparatus and method for determing the pressure in chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for determining the pressure in a chamber comprises: a speaker outputting a sound in a specific frequency band toward eardrums of a user in a chamber; a microphone receiving waves reflected from the eardrums of the user; a measurement unit measuring admittance in the eardrums of the user based on the level of the outputted sound and the size of a component corresponding to the sound in the reflected waves; and a pressure determining unit determining the pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance. According to the present invention, an eardrum state of a patient can be predicted, so a pressure applied to the patient can be determined.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE PRESSURE IN CHAMBER [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for determining a pressure in a chamber, and more particularly, to a method for determining a pressure that is unimportant to a patient's eardrum in a pressure-varying environment.

The eardrum is a thin, transparent silver-white film with a thickness of about 0.1 mm, and is composed of three layers. The eardrum is located at the boundary between the outer ear and the middle ear. The overall shape of the eardrum is conical, and the pointed end of the cone is directed toward the inside of the middle ear, and can act as a diaphragm to vibrate the sound waves transmitted through the ear canal.

On the other hand, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is performed by administering oxygen for a certain period of time in a closed oxygen chamber at a pressure higher than 1 atm. It is generally used most commonly for decompression and arterial air embolism of diver and is also used for carbon monoxide treatment . At this time, the sealed oxygen chamber for high pressure oxygen treatment is called a high-pressure oxygen treatment unit or a high-pressure oxygen chamber.

However, in the case of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, when the air pressure is changed by the chamber, the human body pressure control function can not keep up with the change of the air pressure, resulting in expansion of the eardrums. Due to the difference between the pressure If the pressure equilibrium is broken, the eardrum may be ruptured or various damage such as perforation may occur.

Tympanometry is performed to confirm the mobility and condition of the eardrum, but there is a disadvantage that the eardrum state of the patient can not be detected during hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Therefore, a method for measuring the state of the eardrum of a patient during high pressure oxygen therapy is required.

The background technology of the present application is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-0047309.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for predicting a state of a patient's eardrum in a high-pressure environment in which a pressure is constantly changed and determining a pressurizable pressure.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a device for predicting a state of a tympanic membrane of a patient and determining a pressure capable of being pressurized even when the volume of the external ear canal changes due to the movement of the patient for a long time from the time of pressure change to the start point of pressure equilibrium maintenance of the patient .

It should be understood, however, that the technical scope of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited to the above-described technical problems, and other technical problems may exist.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for determining a pressure of a chamber, the apparatus comprising: a speaker for directing a sound of a predetermined frequency band to a user's eardrum in a chamber and outputting the sound; A measuring section for measuring the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the outputted sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave, and a pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance And a pressure determination unit for determining a pressure of the fluid to be supplied to the fluid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for generating an eardrum state information, which generates eardrum state information of a user based on a measured admittance and a determined pressure.

Also, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the eardrum status information includes at least one of a degree of bending of the eardrum, whether the eardrum is currently in a steady state, a range of pressure corresponding to the current state of the eardrum, and a degree of danger. .

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the eardrum state information generator generates eardrum state information when the measured admittance is the maximum admittance and the state of the eardrum is in a steady state. If the measured admittance is the minimum admittance, And the eardrum state information is in a dangerous state when the pressure difference in the eardrum is out of the predefined range.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measuring unit measures a second admittance corresponding to the determined pressure, and the pressure determining unit updates the pressure based on the admittance and the second admittance.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measurement unit measures a second admittance in the eardrum while the pressure in the chamber is being depressed based on the determined pressure, and the pressure determination unit determines that the measured second admittance has a maximum value And the pressure corresponding to the second admittance is added to the pressure corresponding to the admittance to update the pressure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus further includes a pressure regulator for regulating a pressure in the chamber based on the determined pressure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the pressure is a pressurizing pressure that is pressurizable to the user, and the pressure determining unit determines the current pressure in the chamber as the pressurizing pressure when the measured admittance is the maximum, And the pressure in the chamber is reduced when the pressure difference between the inside and the outside is out of the predefined range.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for generating guidance information for generating guide information for maximizing admittance based on a measured admittance and a determined pressure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus further includes a communication unit that transmits the measured admittance to an external device located outside, and the pressure determination unit determines a pressure based on a control command received from an external device located outside in response to the transmitted admittance And determining the time difference between the first time and the second time.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for determining a pressure of a chamber, the apparatus comprising: a speaker for directing a sound of a predetermined frequency band to a user's eardrum in a chamber; a microphone for receiving a reflected wave reflected from a user's eardrum; Based on the magnitude of the sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave, a pressure determination unit for determining a pressure in the chamber, a pressure determination unit for determining a pressure of the user based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure, And an eardrum state information generating section for generating eardrum state information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of determining the pressure of a chamber, the method comprising: directing sound of a predetermined frequency band to a user's eardrum inside a chamber and outputting the reflected sound; Measuring the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave, and determining the pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance can do.

The above-described task solution is merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. In addition to the exemplary embodiments described above, there may be additional embodiments in the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.

According to the above-mentioned problem solving means of the present invention, it is possible to predict the eardrum condition of a patient in a high-pressure environment in which the pressure is continuously changed, and thus the pressure that can be pressurized by the patient can be determined.

The patient's eardrum condition can be predicted even when the volume of the external auditory canal changes due to the patient's movement from the time of pressure change to the start of pressure equalization of the patient. The difference between the pressure and the internal pressure of the body can prevent trauma to the eardrum.

1 is a diagram of an overall system including an apparatus for determining the pressure of a chamber in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a process of measuring admittance and determining a pressure in a eardrum according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a process of extracting a component corresponding to a sound among the reflected waves according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5A to 5C are views illustrating a process of determining a pressure in a chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining chamber pressure in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In the drawings, the same reference numbers are used throughout the specification to refer to the same or like parts.

Throughout this specification, when a part is referred to as being "connected" to another part, it is not limited to a case where it is "directly connected" but also includes the case where it is "electrically connected" do.

It will be appreciated that throughout the specification it will be understood that when a member is located on another member "top", "top", "under", "bottom" But also the case where there is another member between the two members as well as the case where they are in contact with each other.

Throughout this specification, when an element is referred to as "including " an element, it is understood that the element may include other elements as well, without departing from the other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

1 is a diagram of an overall system including an apparatus for determining the pressure of a chamber in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1, an external device 20 including a pressure-determining device 10 and a pressure-determining device 10 and a computer device connected to the network 30, a mobile phone, and the like are included.

The network 30 refers to a connection structure capable of exchanging information between nodes such as terminals and servers, and may include wireless communication and wired communication. The wireless communication may use, for example, at least one of LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS, WiBro, or GSM as the cellular communication protocol. Also, the wireless communication may include, for example, local communication. The local area communication may include at least one of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RF (Radio Frequency) communication, NFC (near field communication) . The wired communication may include at least one of a universal serial bus (USB), a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a recommended standard 232 (RS-232), a plain old telephone service (POTS) . Network 300 may include at least one of a telecommunications network, e.g., a computer network (e.g., LAN or WAN), the Internet, or a telephone network.

The external device 20 is a terminal capable of receiving or storing card information for an electronic card, and may be a smartphone, a tablet personal computer, a mobile phone, a videophone, A laptop computer, a netbook computer, a workstation, a server, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP) , MP3 players, mobile medical devices, cameras, or wearable devices such as smart glasses, headmounted-devices (HMD), electronic apparel, electronic bracelets, electronic necklaces, ), An electronic tattoo, a smart mirror, or a smart watch), and may include a separate control device that can control the pressure determination device 10 externally It is not.

The pressure determining device 10 directs sound of a predetermined frequency band to the eardrum of the user inside the chamber and outputs the eardrum to receive the reflected wave reflected from the eardrum of the user, The pressure in the chamber can be determined.

The pressure determination device 10 may have a side entrance and may divide the interior of the device 10 so as to separate the device 10 into one or more enclosed spaces, have. Further, the pressure determination device 10 may include an oxygen supply device installed inside the at least one closed space to supply high-pressure oxygen, and may further include a power supply device for supplying power to the oxygen supply device .

The pressure determining apparatus 10 can estimate the pressure equilibrium state by measuring the external auditory volume of the patient in a high-pressure environment and analyzing the admittance of the eardrum based on the basic theory of eardrum motility test for a user or a patient in the chamber, The pressure to reach the pressure equilibrium state can be determined.

The eardrum motility test is an acoustic emittance measurement. It measures the sound absorption rate of the eardrum and can estimate the difference between the internal pressure and the external pressure based on the test results and the internal pressure of the chamber based on the eardrum. The state in which the admittance becomes maximum may mean that the inner pressure and the outer pressure are the same in a state in which the eardrum has the maximum absorption rate. Air is blown through the Eustachian tube to ensure the compressed air volume in the middle ear to ensure the volume of compressed air in the middle ear, resulting in middle ear pressure equilibrium. When the pressure in the pressure determination device 10 is pressed, the eardrum is depressed toward the middle ear, and when the pressure is reduced, the eardrum can be expanded toward the ear canal.

The operation of the pressure determination device 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

2 is a configuration diagram of a pressure determination device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2, the pressure determination apparatus 10 may include a speaker 101, a microphone 102, a measurement unit 103, and a pressure determination unit 104. [ However, the configuration of the pressure determination device 10 is not limited to those described above. For example, the pressure determining apparatus 10 may further include a eardrum state information generating unit 105, a pressure regulating unit 106, a guide information generating unit (not shown), and a communication unit (not shown).

The speaker 101 can direct sound of a predetermined frequency band to the eardrum of the user inside the chamber and output it. For example, the speaker 101 can output a single sound of 220 Hz to 230 Hz toward the eardrum. More specifically, the speaker 101 can generate a single sound of 226 Hz by directing it to the eardrum of the user through a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) in the chamber.

The sound transmitted from the speaker 101 may have various characteristics. There may be friction generated by the friction of the osseous joint portion, the force of the air particles hitting the middle ear structure, the mechanical shape of the cochlear implant and the like due to the characteristics irrespective of the frequency of the sound transmitted from the speaker 101. The characteristics related to the frequency of the sound transmitted from the speaker 101 include rigidity and elasticity, which are correlated with flexibility, such as eardrum, ossicles, and the like.

The microphone 102 can receive the reflected wave reflected from the eardrum of the user. For example, the microphone 102 can receive reflected waves reflected by the eardrum that has been inflated by pressure.

The measuring unit 103 can measure the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the output sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave. At this time, the measuring unit 103 passes the received reflected wave through a filter having a predetermined frequency passband, performs Fourier Fast Transform (FFT) on the received reflected wave to remove noise included in the received reflected wave, Can be measured. For example, the measuring unit 103 may convert the reflected wave received through the microphone 102 to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) at a sampling rate of 7.232 kHz. In this case, the sampling rate required for a limited frequency band is generally 452 Hz according to the Nyquist theory, which can be completely reproduced without loss of information in the sampling process. However, only 226 Hz components are extracted through the Fourier- The sampling rate can be set to 7.25 kHz, which is 2 5 times 226 Hz. The measuring unit 103 may take a 2nd order IIR Peak Filter having a passband of 226 Hz to remove noise except for the 226 Hz band signal and then apply Fourier Fast Transform to the filtered signal to receive It is possible to measure the component corresponding to the sound outputted through the speaker 101. [

When the admittance of the eardrum is measured using the sound of the 226 Hz band at the entrance of the ear canal, the measuring unit 103 can measure both the volume of the ear canal and the admittance information of the eardrum. The maximum value of the sound of 226 Hz band generated through the speaker 101 and the maximum value of the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound of the reflected wave can be used to measure the admittance.

The total admittance TA including the volume of the ear canal and the admittance can be obtained through a speaker and a microphone as shown in Equation (1). The human ear has a phase difference of about 90 degrees between the sound output from the speaker 101 at 226 Hz and the reflected wave received from the microphone 102 and the real value converges to zero. Therefore, the admittance Y is matched with the acoustic susceptance B at a ratio of 1: 1 and can be expressed by the following equation (2).

On the other hand, the total admittance that can be measured through the microphone 101 and the speaker 102 in Equation 1 can be expressed by the sum of the ear canal volume (ECV) and the admittance (TMA: Tympanic Membrane Admittance) of the eardrum . Generally, in the human eardrum, when the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the eardrum exceeds 200 da Pa, the eardrum expands to its maximum and the ability to absorb the sound is lost. The admittance of the eardrum converges to zero, so there is no pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the eardrum The admittance of the tympanic membrane has a maximum value, and at this time, the tympanic membrane is in equilibrium in pressure. On the other hand, when the eardrum expands to its maximum extent and is in a pressure imbalance state, the admittance of the eardrum becomes zero, and the total admittance measured at this time can represent only the eardrum volume.

The external auditory canal volume can be expressed by Equation (3). Where p is the air density, c is the speed of the sound wave, f is the frequency of sound, and v is the volume of enclosure. When the atmospheric pressure and the temperature are 20 degrees and the frequency of 226 Hz is used, the external auditory canal volume can be obtained by the following equation (4).

In this way, the measuring unit 103 can measure the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the output sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave.

On the other hand, the measuring unit 103 can estimate the inner pressure based on the user's eardrum using the admittance of the eardrum and the external pressure such as a chamber pressure applied to the eardrum based on the eardrum, You may. In general, when the measured pressure difference exceeds 800 daPa, early symptoms of barotrauma such as pain may occur, and when reaching 1200 daPa, it is impossible to open and close the eustachian tube by the patient's own efforts, Pressure equilibrium of the internal pressure can not be achieved. Continued pressure differentials can lead to physical damage such as severe pain, rupture, puncture, or hearing loss.

The pressure determination section 104 can determine the pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process of measuring admittance in a eardrum and determining a pressure according to an embodiment of the present invention, using the operation of the pressure determining unit 104 as an example.

Referring to FIG. 3, the user enters the chamber and pressurizes the chamber pressure 302 at 200 daPa (S301) based on the atmospheric pressure. As the chamber pressure 302 increases, it is measured that the admittance 301 of the eardrum gradually converges to zero at the measuring unit 103 and then the pressure balance is induced through the user's efforts, The measuring unit 103 gradually increases to reach a pressure equilibrium state S302 in which the inner pressure 303 and the outer pressure 302 are equal to each other and at this time the measuring unit 103 can measure the maximum value of the admittance of the eardrum. Thereafter, when the chamber pressure 303 is increased to 200 daPa (S303), the pressure imbalance state is attained and the admittance of the eardrum is converged to 0. When the chamber pressure 303 is reduced to 400 daPa (S304), the external pressure 302 The admittance of the eardrum becomes the maximum value, and when the chamber pressure 302 becomes lower than the internal pressure 303 as the depressurization continues, the pressure unbalance state becomes again and the admittance of the eardrum becomes 0 . That is, it can be assumed that the difference 304 between the chamber pressure 302 and the internal pressure 303 is zero, or when the admittance of the eardrum becomes the maximum value, it is in the pressure equilibrium state.

In other words, in an environment where pressure is changed through pressurization or depressurization, the measuring unit 103 continuously measures the admittance of the user's eardrum to measure whether or not the user is in the current pressure balance state, and the pressure determining unit 104 Can determine the current pressure at the time when the admittance of the user becomes the maximum value as the pressurizing pressure that can be applied to the user in the chamber.

3, as the chamber pressure 302 increases, the admittance 301, which is measured through the measuring unit 103, is gradually hunted to zero, and according to the user's efforts, the internal pressure 303 The admittance 301 measured through the measuring unit 103 has a maximum value when pressure equilibrium is established in the eardrum. The pressure determining section 104 can determine the maximum value of the admittance 301 as the pressurizing pressure which can be applied to the user at 200 daPa which is the pressure at the starting point.

The pressure equilibrium in the present invention means that the pressure inside the eardrum is the same, and the admittance measured by the measuring unit 103 can have a maximum value when the pressure inside the eardrum is the same. Therefore, the pressure balance, the maximum admittance, and the maximum value of the admittance can be used in combination, and the pressure determining unit 104 can determine the pressure at the time point of pressure equalization to be the pressure in the chamber, Lt; / RTI >

The elasticity of the eardrum indicates the ability to absorb sound, and the elasticity is lowest at the point where the admittance converges to zero, so that the sound absorption of the eardrum is low. At this time, the tympanic membrane is tightly tensed and the reflection becomes large. The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the middle ear causes the ear to become dull and the sound is not audible. On the other hand, at the point where the admittance is maximum, the elasticity of the eardrum is the highest and the sound absorption of the eardrum is high. This point is the optimal environment for delivering sound energy, and the eardrum loosens loosely, resulting in less reflection and increased absorption. When the pressure of the ear canal and middle ear is equal, the inner pressure and the outer pressure are at the same point with respect to the eardrum.

The measuring unit 103 measures the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the outputted sound and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave, and the pressure determining unit 104 determines the pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance Can be determined. In this case, the pressure is a pressure that can be pressurized by the user, and the pressure that can be pressurized can refer to a pressure that can be equilibrated to the user's own pressure without causing a trauma directly to the user's eardrum.

The eardrum state information generation unit 105 can generate the eardrum state information of the user based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure. The eardrum status information may include information such as bending information of the eardrum, whether the eardrum is currently in a steady state, a range of pressure corresponding to the eardrum's current state, a risk level, a risk level, and a pressure balance state, And may further include various information related to the condition of the eardrum.

When the admittance measured by the measuring unit 103 is the maximum admittance, the eardrum state information generating unit 105 generates eardrum state information by determining that the state of the eardrum is in a normal state and is in a pressure balanced state, 103 is a minimum admittance that converges to zero, it may be in a pressure imbalance state, and it may be determined that the current state of the eardrum is in a dangerous state, thereby generating eardrum state information.

The measuring unit 103 measures a second admittance corresponding to the determined pressure, and the pressure determining unit 104 can update the pressure based on the admittance and the second admittance. The measuring unit 103 measures a second admittance in the middle earring in which the pressure in the chamber is being pressurized based on the determined pressure while the pressure determining unit 104 determines that the measured admittance The pressure corresponding to the second admittance can be added to the pressure corresponding to the second admittance to renew the pressure. The pressure regulator 106 can adjust the pressure in the chamber based on the determined pressure.

For example, when the admittance measured by the measuring unit 103 is the maximum, the pressure determining unit 104 can determine the current pressure in the chamber as the pressurizing pressure, and when the measured admittance is the minimum, 105 generates eardrum state information that the eardrum state of the current user is dangerous and the pressure regulator 106 can reduce the pressure in consideration of the eardrum state of the user when the measured admittance is minimum. 5A to 5C will be described with reference to the above embodiment.

5A to 5C are views illustrating a process of determining a pressure in a chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention. However, the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 5A through 5C are merely illustrative of examples for convenience of understanding in the present embodiment, and the present invention is not limited to the description of FIGS. 5A through 5C , And it is apparent that various other embodiments may be further included.

Referring to FIG. 5A, the pressure determination device 10 may proceed to pressurize continuously to monitor the patient's eardrum condition. If the pressure difference 304 is 0, it can be seen that the inner pressure 303 and the outer pressure 302 are the same with respect to the eardrum, which means that the pressure inside the eardrum is in a parallel state. Accordingly, the pressurizable range can be selected according to the chamber pressure pressure limit point and the trauma point according to the pressure difference based on the pressure equilibrium point, and the measuring unit 103 presses a certain range of pressure from the pressure equilibrium point The pressure balance of the patient can be confirmed by continuously measuring the admittance. Further, when the pressure balance of the patient is observed before reaching the pressurizable pressure range, the pressure determination unit 104 may update the pressurizable pressure.

At S501, the initial pressurizable pressure was 800 da Pa. When the chamber pressure 302 was being pressurized through the pressure regulator 106, the internal pressure 303 of the patient increased to become 0 When the admittance measured through the measuring unit 103 has the maximum value and the pressure equilibrium state is reached, the pressure determining unit 104 updates the pressure restricting pressure at the point in time when the pressurizable pressure is observed and updates to 1400 daPa ( S502).

5B, when the eardrum state information indicating that the eardrum state is normal is not generated in the state of pressure equilibrium up to the pressurizable pressure after the pressure is adjusted to the pressure determined in the pressure regulating unit 106, that is, (Not shown) for generating guiding information for guiding the admittance to be maximum based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure, guiding the patient to perform pressure equalization through the guiding information, (S503). If the pressure equilibrium is reached within a predetermined time, the pressurizing pressure can be renewed (S504), and then the pressurization can be continued. At this time, the generated guide information may be voice guidance, and may be generated through various methods such as image and image.

Referring to FIG. 5C, if pressure equalization is not performed within a predetermined time, the pressure inside the chamber 302 can be reduced. The measuring unit 103 can know that the pressure difference 304 is about 200 da Pa at the time when the admittance of the eardrum rises when the pressure inside the chamber is reduced and the pressure balance is made when the pressure difference 304 becomes zero Can be measured.

5A to 5C, the measuring unit 103 continuously measures the admittance 301 in the eardrum, the pressure determined through the pressure determining unit 104 is 800 daPa, and the chamber pressure When the measurement section 103 measures the maximum value of the admittance at the time when 600 mAPa has been reached after the pressurizing section 302 pressurizes the pressurizing section 302 to 200 daPa, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > Pa, < / RTI > At this time, the pressure may be a pressurizing pressure that can be applied to the user. In other words, when the maximum admittance during the measurement of the admittance in the eardrum continuously through the measuring unit 103 is measured, the pressure determining unit 104 can determine the pressure in the chamber, When the maximum admittance is once again measured in the section 103, the pressure determination section 104 can update the predetermined pressure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus may further include a communication unit (not shown) for transmitting the measured admittance to an externally located external device. The pressure determining unit 104 may be configured to determine, based on the received admittance, The pressure can be determined based on the command. For example, the communication unit can transmit the admittance measured by the measuring unit 103 to an externally located computer, and the pressure determining unit 104 can determine the pressure based on a control command received from an externally located computer. On the other hand, the pressure regulator 106 can regulate the pressure based on the control command received from the computer.

Such an apparatus 10 for determining the pressure can be applied only when there is no abnormality in the audiometry. When the stiffness of the ossicle is increased, the degree of conduction in the atmospheric pressure and the degree of conduction in the as- Or a loss of stiffness of the ossicles, abnormal tympanic membrane motion with abnormally high eardrum movement, or a B-type eardrum with a maximum value of less than 0.2, or a maximum value of -100 to -200 da Pa It can not be applied to the case where the C type eardrum is present in the region or the E type eardrum is present.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus 10 for determining the pressure comprises a speaker for directing sound of a predetermined frequency band to the eardrum and outputting it, a microphone for receiving the reflected echoes reflected from the eardrum of the user, A measurement section for measuring the admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave, a pressure determination section for determining the pressure in the chamber, and a user's eardrum status information based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure And an eardrum state information generating unit. ,

Referring to FIG. 4, in step S401, when a measurement command is received, in step S402, a predetermined frequency band And outputs the reflected sound reflected from the eardrum of the user through the microphone in step S403. A sound signal is sampled at a predetermined frequency band in the reflected wave received in step S404, and a second order IIR filter is used to detect a signal corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave in step S405. The Fourier transform is performed in step S406 to detect a signal corresponding to the sound among the reflected waves and the admittance can be measured based on the magnitude of the sound output in step S407 and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave. Thereafter, the admittance information measured in step S408 may be transmitted to the external device.

The process of extracting the component corresponding to the sound among the reflected waves described in FIG. 4 is only one of various implementations of the present application, and is not limited thereto.

6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining chamber pressure in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method of determining the pressure of the chamber according to Fig. 6 will be described in detail in each section of the pressure determination apparatus 10 described with reference to Figs. Therefore, even if not described below, it can be included in or can be deduced from the operation description of the pressure determination device described in FIG. 1, and therefore detailed description is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 6, in step S601, the pressure determining device 10 directs a sound of a predetermined frequency band toward a user's eardrum inside the chamber and outputs the reflected sound reflected from the eardrum in step S602. The admittance in the eardrum can be measured based on the magnitude of the sound output in step S603 and the magnitude of the component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave and the pressure in the chamber can be determined based on the measured admittance in step S604.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing description of the embodiments is for illustrative purposes and that those skilled in the art can easily modify the invention without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention.

10: pressure determination device
101: Speaker
102: microphone
103:
104: pressure determination unit
105: eardrum condition information generation unit
106: Pressure regulator

Claims (13)

An apparatus for determining a pressure in a chamber,
A speaker for directing a sound of a predetermined frequency band to the eardrum of the user inside the chamber and outputting the sound;
A microphone for receiving a reflected wave reflected from the eardrum of the user;
A measurement unit for measuring an admittance of the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the output sound and the magnitude of a component corresponding to the sound among the reflected waves; And
And a pressure determination section that determines a pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance,
Wherein the measuring unit measures a second admittance corresponding to the determined pressure,
And the pressure determining section updates the pressure based on the admittance and the second admittance. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a eardrum state information generating section for generating eardrum state information of the user based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the eardrum state information includes at least one of a degree of bending of the eardrum, whether the eardrum is currently in a steady state, a range of pressure corresponding to a current state of the eardrum, and a degree of danger. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the eardrum state information generating unit generates the eardrum state information that the state of the eardrum is in a normal state when the measured admittance is the maximum admittance and the measured admittance is the minimum admittance, And the eardrum state information is generated to be in a dangerous state when the difference is out of a preset range. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the measuring unit measures a second admittance in the eardrum when the pressure in the chamber is pressurized based on the determined pressure,
Wherein the pressure determining unit updates the pressure by adding a pressure corresponding to the second admittance to a pressure corresponding to the measured admittance when the measured second admittance has a maximum value. The method according to claim 1,
And a pressure regulator for regulating the pressure in the chamber based on the determined pressure. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the pressure is a pressurizing pressure that can be applied to the user,
Wherein the pressure determining section determines the current pressure in the chamber as the pressurizing pressure when the measured admittance is the maximum,
Wherein the pressure regulator decompresses the pressure in the chamber when the pressure difference between the inside of the eardrum and the outside which is the minimum measured admittance is out of a predefined range. 9. The method of claim 8,
Further comprising a guide information generating unit for generating guide information for guiding the admittance to be a maximum based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure. The method according to claim 1,
The measuring unit passes the received reflected wave through a filter having a predetermined frequency passband, performs Fourier transform (FFT) on the received reflected wave, removes noise included in the received reflected wave, and measures a component corresponding to the sound in the reflected wave Characterized in that. The method according to claim 1,
And a communication unit for transmitting the measured admittance to another external apparatus,
Wherein the pressure determining unit determines the pressure based on a control command received from the external apparatus in response to the transmitted admittance. An apparatus for determining a pressure in a chamber,
A speaker for directing a sound of a predetermined frequency band to the eardrum of the user inside the chamber and outputting the sound;
A microphone for receiving a reflected wave reflected from the eardrum of the user;
A measurement unit for measuring an admittance of the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the output sound and the magnitude of a component corresponding to the sound among the reflected waves;
A pressure determining unit that determines a pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance; And
And a eardrum state information generator for generating eardrum state information of the user based on the measured admittance and the determined pressure,
Wherein the measuring unit measures a second admittance corresponding to the determined pressure,
And the pressure determining section updates the pressure based on the admittance and the second admittance. A method for determining a pressure in a chamber,
Directing a sound of a predetermined frequency band to a user's eardrum inside the chamber and outputting the sound;
Receiving a reflected wave reflected from the eardrum of the user;
Measuring an admittance in the user's eardrum based on the magnitude of the output sound and the magnitude of a component of the reflected wave corresponding to the sound;
Determining a pressure in the chamber based on the measured admittance,
Wherein measuring the admittance in the eardrum of the user comprises measuring a second admittance corresponding to the determined pressure,
Wherein the step of determining the pressure in the chamber updates the pressure based on the admittance and the second admittance.

Images