HEARLab® ACA: the new Celesta module for objective cortical assessment

Inventis is pleased to introduce HEARLab® ACA – Aided Cortical Assessment, the new module available for Celesta that enables clinicians to objectively assess whether specific speech-like stimuli presented in the free field elicit a detectable cortical response.
Integrated into Inventis Maestro software, HEARLab® ACA supports clinicians in assessing cortical access to speech in both aided and unaided conditions, providing objective information that is particularly valuable when a reliable behavioral response is not available.

An additional source of objective information

Audiological assessment is based on the integration of clinical, electrophysiological, and behavioral information.
HEARLab® ACA adds the possibility of determining whether speech-like stimuli presented to the patient elicit a detectable cortical response.
In the aided condition, this information can support post-fitting verification, helping clinicians assess cortical access to amplified speech in the individual patient and determine whether further investigation or reassessment of the hearing aid fitting may be needed.

Designed for clinical practice

The assessment is performed in the free field, with the patient awake and without requiring a voluntary response.
HEARLab® ACA uses four brief speech-like stimuli — /m/, /g/, /t/, and /s/ — with predominant energy in different frequency regions of speech, from low to very high frequencies.
Detection of the cortical response is supported by an automated statistical analysis based on Hotelling’s T² test. The system calculates a p-value, a statistical index that indicates how likely it is that the observed response could be attributed to background noise alone. When p < 0.05, the response is considered statistically significant. This approach reduces reliance on visual waveform interpretation alone and provides clinicians with an additional objective element to support result interpretation.

Clinical applications

HEARLab® ACA can provide particularly useful information when behavioral responses are absent, unreliable, or not sufficiently informative.
Key applications include:

• post-fitting verification and assessment of hearing aid benefit; 
• aided and unaided assessment; 
• support for pediatric hearing aid fitting; 
• assessment of patients who are unable to provide reliable behavioral responses; 
• selected cases of Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD); 
• counselling and support for clinical decision-making in complex audiological cases. 

In pediatric audiology in particular, HEARLab® ACA makes it possible to collect objective information on cortical access to speech even in the early stages of the hearing aid pathway, when a child may not yet be able to provide reliable behavioral responses.

Expanding Celesta’s capabilities

Available through a dedicated software license, HEARLab® ACA further expands Celesta’s capabilities and enriches its workflow for auditory and vestibular evoked potentials.
Speech-like stimuli. Free field. Aided and unaided assessment. Statistical support for cortical response detection.
With HEARLab® ACA, Celesta provides clinicians with a new tool to obtain objective information on cortical access to speech and, in the aided condition, to support hearing aid fitting verification.