A device to measure head-turn reflex in the distribution test used for infant hearing assessment

A device was constructed to measure infant head rotation during orienting reflexes to sound stimuli. An experiment was devised to compare the device output with visual observation of the infant. Four stimulus and four no-stimulus control trials were presented randomly to each of 24 infants. Fourteen scorers examined a hardcopy record of the device output followed by a video of the same tests for the presence of head-turn responses to the sound stimuli. The results of this study have shown that it is possible to construct a device to detect head-turn reflexes from young children. However, the success rate in detecting head-turns was inferior to visual scoring of the video of the child's behavior. This was due to the lack of precision of the device. An improved device may overcome this problem and could provide the basis for a useful addition to distraction testing.