Bone conduction reception: Head sensitivity mapping

McBride, Maranda; Łȩtowski, Tomasz; Tran, Phuong K.

doi:10.1080/00140130701747509

Cited by 40 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Many behavioural studies have provided evidence that the mastoid is generally more sensitive to bone conduction stimulation than the forehead (Watson 1938;Studebaker 1967;Weston et al 1967;Small et al 2007;McBride et al 2008). Weston et al found that average thresholds for adults at the forehead for 500 Hz were 15 to 20 dB higher (i.e., worse) than thresholds at the mastoid.…”

Section: Skull Locationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Maturation of Mechanical Impedance of the Skin-Covered Skull: Implications for Soft Band Bone-Anchored Hearing Systems Fitted in Infants and Young Children

et al. 2016

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Our findings show that mechanical impedance properties change systematically up to 7 years old. The significant age-related differences in mechanical impedance suggest that infant-adult differences in bone conduction thresholds may be related, at least in part, to properties of the immature skull and overlying skin and tissues. These results have important implications for fitting the soft band BAHS on infants and young children. For example, verification of output force form a BAHS on a coupler designed with adult values may not be appropriate for infants. This may also hold true for transducer calibration when assessing bone conduction hearing thresholds in infants for different skull locations. The results have two additional clinical implications for fitting soft band BAHSs. First, parents should be counseled to maintain sufficient and consistent tightness so that the output from the BAHS does not change as the child moves around during everyday activities. Second, placement of a BAHS on the forehead versus the temporal bone results in changes in mechanical impedance which may contribute to a decrease in signal level at the cochlea as it has been previously demonstrated that bone conduction thresholds are poorer at the forehead compared with a temporal placement.

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Section: Skull Locationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Maturation of Mechanical Impedance of the Skin-Covered Skull: Implications for Soft Band Bone-Anchored Hearing Systems Fitted in Infants and Young Children

et al. 2016

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“…However, bone conduction hearing is a much more complex and less understood process than that of air conduction. [18] Thus we need to understand bone conduction auditory feedback including the occlusion effect of protection devices. In addition, future studies should also focus on more basic research conducted on bone conduction interfaces to identify effective locations of bone conduction vibrators and to ensure that their use does not impede the safety and survivability of military personnel.…”

Section: Conclusion and Suggestionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[19] Moreover, voice type such as male or female and background noise levels should be considered in future studies. [18] Since chronic NIHL is most commonly caused by prolonged exposure to high levels of noise, to prevent manufacturing and construction workers from developing NIHL, [17] effective hearing protection devices and communicating though bone conduction must be used.…”

Section: Conclusion and Suggestionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Hearing Protection Methods and Noise Directions on Bone-Conduction Sensitivity

Han¹

2013

THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF KOREA

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The present study aimed to find the most sensitive placement of the skull to perceive speech through the bone vibrator in various protection methods while being exposed to noise. Twenty young normal-hearing adults (10 male and 10 female) participated in the study. As stimulus, Korean spondee words were presented via one of five skull locations (i.e., jaw angle, condyle, temple, mastoid, and vertex), while the participants wore one of four protection methods (i.e., ear form, ear plug, ear muff, and ear form and muff together) against white noise in one of four noise directions (i.e., 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees). The results showed: 1) there was a significant difference among the five skull locations with condyle being the most sensitive placement; 2) there was a significant difference among the four protection methods, with the ear form plus ear muff condition (or dual protection) providing the lowest threshold; 3) when exposed to noise from 90 degrees, the significantly lowest threshold was found; 4) there was no significant difference in results by gender. The pattern of results suggests that the communicative condition via the condyle bone conduction and the dual protection of the air conduction under any noise direction might be ideal for preventing noise-induced hearing loss, although further studies should be undertaken in this area.

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“…However, the standards are aimed toward clinical use rather than communication applications (Henry and Letowski, 2007;McBride et al, 2008b). The focus of the standards is on only one bone transducer model (RadioEar B-71) and on only two skull locations (forehead and mastoid process).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bone conduction transducers can also be used without obstructing a listener's ears and without interfering with hearing protection devices. These benefits make bone conduction an attractive means for radio communication, and several laboratories have conducted investigations using a variety of bone conduction transducer devices placed at various skull locations (e.g., McBride et al, 2008a;McBride et al, 2008b;Osafo-Yeboah et al, 2009;Stanley and Walker, 2009;Tran and Letowski, 2010;McBride et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A free-field method to calibrate bone conduction transducers

Pollard

Tran

Łȩtowski

2013

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Bone conduction communication systems employ a variety of transducers with different physical and electroacoustic properties, and these transducers may be worn at various skull locations. Testing these systems thus requires a reliable means of transducer calibration that can be implemented across different devices, skull locations, and settings. Unfortunately, existing calibration standards do not meet these criteria. Audiometric bone conduction standards focus on only one device model and on limited skull locations. Furthermore, while mechanical couplers may be used for calibration, the general human validity of their results is suspect. To address the need for more flexible, human-centered calibration methods, the authors investigated a procedure for bone transducer calibration, analogous to free-field methods for calibrating air conduction headphones. Participants listened to1s third-octave noise bands (125-12,500 Hz) alternating between a bone transducer and a loudspeaker and adjusted the bone transducer to match the perceived loudness of the loudspeaker at each test frequency. Participants tested two transducer models and two skull locations. Intra- and inter-subject reliability was high, and the resulting data differed by transducer, by location, and from the mechanical coupler. The described procedure is flexible to transducer model and skull location, requires only basic equipment, and directly yields perceptual data.

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Bone conduction reception: Head sensitivity mapping

Cited by 40 publications

References 19 publications

Maturation of Mechanical Impedance of the Skin-Covered Skull: Implications for Soft Band Bone-Anchored Hearing Systems Fitted in Infants and Young Children

Maturation of Mechanical Impedance of the Skin-Covered Skull: Implications for Soft Band Bone-Anchored Hearing Systems Fitted in Infants and Young Children

Effects of Hearing Protection Methods and Noise Directions on Bone-Conduction Sensitivity

A free-field method to calibrate bone conduction transducers

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