FAQ AudSim Flex

Your 'Local Key is generated for your computer the first time your start AudSim. It appears in red on the Login screen. Each computer will have a different 'Local Key'.

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Yes, you can use AudSim on another computer. Just download and install on the new machine, then email us the new 'Local Key'. We will send the new registration.

audsim@gmail.com

The Patient Files may have been deleted or failed to install. Download and unzip the files to your Documents folder under the subfolder named 'audsimFlex'

Download PatientFiles.zip

Signal levels in AudSim are controlled by two volume controls; the operating system main volume control and the AudSim monitor level sliders (located at the bottom of the side panels).

1. Check that computer's main volume controls are not turned down or muted.
2. In AudSim adjust the active channel (right or left) monitor level slider control.

The software simulation is from the audiologist's viewpoint, therefore, the stimulus signals that you hear are at monitored levels not presentation levels.

If you only want to remark a threshold just click "Mark Threshold" again at the correct dB level. To clear the marker from the current frequency use the Delete key with the audiogram cursor on the desired frequency.

The tone button should stay depressed for at least a second. If you are using very short presentations (as you might if this were a video game instead of practice at hearing testing), then this error message will appear. While an audiologist may have a few such errors, having hundreds or even dozens of errors means that you are not using a proper tone presentation interval.

In the print out you sent, the actual threshold in one case was -20 dB HL. The lowest sound level an audiometer can produce is -10 dB HL, so you correctly marked that at threshold. In the other example, the bone conduction actual threshold at 250 Hz was 60 dB HL, and you marked NR45, meaning no response at 45 dB HL, the loudest that the audiometer can produce. This is correct. In the other example, you marked the threshold as 40 and the actual threshold was 45. This is an error on your part, but can happen occasionally. No patient is perfectly consistent, and sometimes you will measure a threshold 5 dB different from the actual threshold. It would be rare to make a 10 dB error. If you have several errors of this nature, you are probably not testing using the right technique. You should test in handholding mode again to see where your technique is in error.

An audiometer has "limits" to its output. AudSim reflects typical output limits. Bone conduction limits are lower than air conduction. A loud bone conduction sound would be felt, so the low frequencies are limited at a fairly low level. Also, more energy is required to "drive" a bone oscillator, and this limits the loudest sound that an audiometer can produce. Mark "no response" if the patient does not hear the sound. This may limit your ability to determine site of lesion. You may be able to tell that the patient's loss is conductive, but be unable to determine if the loss is sensorineural or mixed.

Review the air and bone conduction thresholds to determine the site of lesion. Because professors may ask the students to determine the type of loss and describe its severity, the answer print out does not specify the type of loss. For help in checking your understanding of this information, use the tutorials on audiogram interpretation found on the Resources page.

If you test a masking patient and don't use contralateral masking when needed, then your threshold may be lower than the true threshold. Use of proper contralateral masking causes a central masking effect that shifts threshold a few dB. With masking, the measured thresholds will likely be about 5 dB higher than the actual thresholds.