New Purdue Audiology testing and research facility opens in Indianapolis

Michael Heinz, professor in the Purdue University Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, speaks in front of the newly opened Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center in Indianapolis. The facility will be home to hearing screenings for research and it is part of the new 16 Tech innovation district.(Tim Brouk)

Written by: Tim Brouk, tbrouk@purdue.edu

The fight against hearing loss in central Indiana was strengthened with the opening of the Purdue University Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center (APARC) in Indianapolis.

The facility fitted with a sound booth, audiometer, wideband tympanometer and new mobile hearing assessment technology is now open at the 16 Tech innovation district, adjacent to Purdue University in Indianapolis, the urban expansion that launched July 1. The district is home to research-focused start-up companies and facilities and is conjoined to The AMP (Artisan Marketplace), a vibrant culinary community.

During the space’s Oct. 25 grand opening, dozens of Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) faculty, staff and students checked out APARC where central Indiana residents will be able to get their hearing checked while participating in new, cutting-edge research to solve the major health crisis of untreated hearing loss.

“This gives us an outreach,” said Michael Heinz, professor and associate head for research in SLHS, with a joint appointment in Biomedical Engineering. “We’re using some of the standardized testing that we’ve developed on the West Lafayette campus through our mechanistic studies. APARC is designed to provide testing for community members and serve as a resource for navigating the complicated world of hearing health care.”

APARC includes researchers from other Purdue programs — biological sciences, computer science and biomedical engineering are already involved. Leaders from those programs attended the grand opening as well as Aaron Bowman, College of Health and Human Sciences interim Dean.

The center is supported by Purdue’s Office of Research and the Office of the Provost, leveraging several significant grants from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, and continuing the initial support received from the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience.

The facility will meet the urgent need to address untreated hearing loss in Indiana, especially among underserved populations. Researchers will be able to work with diverse populations usually not as well represented in West Lafayette. APARC will also serve the needs of rural populations across Indiana.

APARC will use brand new, open-source software and hardware from Creare LLC to reach new populations with hearing loss away from a large, immobile sound booth. When combined with a tablet and soundproof headphones, the Tympan allows testing in participants’ homes, reducing inaccessibility for standardized hearing tests.

“It’s a portable system that allows us to bring standardized audiological testing to a much broader range of communities,” Heinz said. “It’s a remarkable device – the price point is 10 times less than a sound booth and clinical equipment. By making hearing testing more accessible, it will allow us to get out into rural areas — such as farming communities — where hearing loss has a high prevalence.”

Hearing loss affects almost 50 million Americans and there is only one audiologist per 14,000 people in the United States, according to the Center for Hearing and Communication. Only one in six people who should get their hearing tested actually see an audiologist. APARC will attempt to improve these numbers in Indiana.

“Through Purdue’s world class expertise in audiology, auditory neuroscience and AI-driven data analytics, APARC team members train future hearing scientists and audiologists to fight these growing health concerns for diverse populations,” Bowman said. “With APARC, the city of Indianapolis and nearby rural communities are getting an open-source data hub of standardized hearing measures for researchers using AI-enabled analysis tools to create more testing and treatment capabilities.”