Vibrational and Acoustical Characteristics of Ear Pinna Simulators That Differ in Hardness

Shimokura, Ryota; Nishimura, Tadashi; Hosoi, Hiroshi

doi:10.3390/audiolres11030030

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Evaluating the performance in the patients with difficulty in behavioral audiometry, the real ear measurement is effective in normal anatomical ears [30], and the simulator for CC is also beneficial to the estimation [31,32]. Unfortunately, the ear canal was substantially absent in the atretic ears, and these measurements cannot exactly reflect the signal transmission to the cochlea.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

et al. 2021

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Hearing improvement represents one of the may valuable outcomes in microtia and aural atresia reconstruction surgery. Most patients with poor development in their hearing function have had a severe microtia. Conventional methods to improve hearing function are bone conduction and bone anchored hearing aids. Cartilage conduction hearing aids (CCHA) represents a new amplification method. This study assessed the outcomes and evaluated the impact and its safety in the patients with microtia and aural atresia whose hearing dysfunction did not improve after surgery for ear reconstruction in our hospital. Hearing functions were evaluated with pure tone audiometry or sound field testing by behavioral audiometry and speech audiometry before and after CCHA fitting. As a result, there was a significant difference between unaided and aided thresholds (p < 0.001). Speech recognition threshold and speech discrimination level also significantly improved with CCHA. The average functional gains of 14 ears were 26.9 ± 2.3 dB. Almost all parents of the patients reported satisfaction with the performance of CCHA, and daily communication in children with hearing loss also became better than usual.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

et al. 2021

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“…The materials and dimensions of the main components of the coupler simulating the ear cartilage are described below. Rubber is sometimes selected as a material for living body simulation [20][21][22]. Because the mechanical impedance of concha auriculae is dominated by resistance, the rubber was selected experimentally by evaluating various rubber materials and shapes.…”

Section: Coupler Simulating the Ear Cartilagementioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of the Mechanical Impedance of Ear Cartilage and Development of a Coupler for Vibrator Evaluation of Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aids

Ishikawa,

Watanuki,

Iwakura

2024

Applied Sciences

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Cartilage conduction hearing aids (CCHAs) are new devices that have attracted attention in recent years for external auditory canal atresia. In these devices, a vibrator is attached to the ear cartilage to transmit sound through vibration. In this study, we measure the mechanical impedance of the ear concha auriculae, which represents the mechanical load on the vibrator. To evaluate the output of the CCHAs, we develop a coupler simulating the ear cartilage that measures the sound pressure corresponding to the eardrum sound pressure of the normal ear. Consequently, the mechanical impedance of the developed coupler is several times larger than that of the human ear cartilage measured in this study; however, it is an acceptable value considering the difference in the contact area. The output sound pressure of the vibrator with the coupler simulating the ear cartilage roughly simulates the sound pressure in the ear canal with normal hearing (with the ear canal sealed). In this study, the measured mechanical impedance of the human ear cartilage is approximately 20 dB less than that of the mechanical coupler specified in IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60318-6 for the evaluation of the bone conduction vibrator.

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“…However, evidence for the existence of the two cartilage-conduction pathways, cartilage–air-conduction and cartilage–bone-conduction, is currently insufficient in terms of whether the vibrations are actually being transmitted along them. Although such evidence has been produced in a model of the external auditory canal [ 6 ], in vivo validation in humans is lacking. Therefore, measurement of the vibration of the ossicles during cartilage conduction in vivo may provide useful information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Vivo Measurement of Ear Ossicle and Bony Wall Vibration by Sound Stimulation of Cartilage Conduction

Yazama,

Arii,

Kataoka

et al. 2023

Audiology Research

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The cartilage-conduction pathway was recently proposed as a third auditory pathway; however, middle-ear vibrations have not yet been investigated in vivo. We aimed to measure the ossicles and bone vibration upon cartilage-conduction stimulation with a non-contact laser Doppler vibrometer. We recruited adult patients with normal ear structures who underwent cochlear implant surgery at our hospital between April 2020 and December 2022. For sound input, a cartilage-conduction transducer, custom-made by RION Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), was fixed to the surface of the tragus and connected to an audiometer to regulate the output. A posterior tympanotomy was performed and a laser beam was directed through the cavity to measure the vibration of the ossicles, cochlear promontory, and posterior wall of the external auditory canal. Five participants (three men, mean age: 56.4 years) were included. The mean hearing loss on the operative side was 96.3 dB HL in one patient, and that of the other patients was off-scale. The vibrations were measured at a sound input of 1 kHz and 60 dB. We observed vibrations of all three structures, demonstrating the existence of cartilage-conduction pathways in vivo. These results may help uncover the mechanisms of the cartilage-conduction pathway in the future.

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Vibrational and Acoustical Characteristics of Ear Pinna Simulators That Differ in Hardness

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

Clinical Trial for Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aid in Indonesia

Measurement of the Mechanical Impedance of Ear Cartilage and Development of a Coupler for Vibrator Evaluation of Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aids

In Vivo Measurement of Ear Ossicle and Bony Wall Vibration by Sound Stimulation of Cartilage Conduction

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