Article
Ear canal vibrations due to the own voice and bone conduction - insights from measurements with special individualized earmold designs (de)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
The occlusion effect occurs when the ear is occluded by an earphone, hearing aid or similar device, and describes a low-frequency amplification of sounds generated by the body, for example while speaking, chewing or walking. It is present because sound generated by the vibrating ear canal walls is reflected by the device, and thus amplified with respect to the open-ear case. Since the phenomenon is annoying for the user, means to reduce the occlusion effect have been studied for decades. One approach is to optimize the earpiece design such that sound generated by ear canal vibrations is decoupled from the residual ear canal. This requires knowledge of the vibration patterns in the ear canal, which are unclear besides the commonly accepted fact that the vibrations are concentrated in the outer, cartilaginous part of the ear canal.In this contribution, we are trying to infer on ear canal vibration patterns and body sound conduction paths based on occlusion effect measurements in different individualized earpiece designs that feature material removal at different parts of the ear canal. These measurements included excitation by the own voice with different phonemes, as well as a bone conduction driver, which generate largely different occlusion effects.