Phoenix description

The Phoenix has been developed by Soundbyte Solutions in collaboration with the Institute of Hearing Research (IHR) Nottingham, and the Children’s Hearing Assessment Centre (CHAC), Nottingham.

It has been designed as a replacement for the IHR/CHAC Automated McCormick Toy Test which is no longer available commercially. This instrument was extremely well designed and widely accepted as the ‘Gold Standard’ for McCormick toy testing. Unfortunately, it was also rather bulky and cost prohibitive.

The Phoenix is smaller, lighter and less expensive than the IHR device. By using the latest digital technology, we are able to house the power supply and audio electronics inside the loudspeaker enclosure. The handset and menu structure have been re-designed and as a result the Phoenix is extremely simple to assemble and use.

The Phoenix uses the same adaptive rule as the original IHR/McCormick Toy Test. The target words will be randomly selected by the Phoenix and the intensity of the stimuli is varied depending on whether the last toy was correctly or incorrectly identified. Using a 2-down/1-up rule, the Phoenix will identify the level at which 71% of the words are correctly identified. This level is calculated and displayed at each reversal, with the test ending after 6 reversals.

The Phoenix will also perform speech in noise testing and warble tone tests.

The Phoenix is suitable for both clinical and community testing.

For further information on the IHR visit www.ihr.mrc.ac.uk