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Re: Molding of pinna for dummy head

We used a similar compound to hold in place an ITE electret microphone when
my HRTF's were measured. One of the molds got partially stuck in my ear
canal, VERY close to the eardrum. I remember spending the most
excruciatingly painful 10 minutes at the ENT clinic having a doc retrieving
it from my ear. I recommend the process only to people with masochistic
tendencies.

Pierre Divenyi

 At 10:22 PM 12/4/2003 +0100, Guillaume Vandernoot wrote:

"Benjamin, Eric" wrote:
>
> Dear List,
>
> I am in the process of constructing a dummy head, and I would
> like to be able to make molds from my own ears and others' ears,
> and use them on the dummy head.  Can someone on the list tell me
> how to do this, or refer me to a publication that tells how to do
> it?
>
> Eric Benjamin

Hi

We did synthetic copies of human ears here at IRCAM, for many subjects.
This task is difficult to manage.

For making mold, we use a silicon putty (hardness = 35 shores). We
worked with a company involved in auditive prosthesis. Be careful
to protect ear canal. The delicate point is to well imprint oulines
and details of the concha. As far as I remember, the rear side
of the concha is another delicate point.

When the resin is dry, it is nice you succeed in removing
the mold from the ear ;-) Without damaging the mold, of course...
and the real ear, too.

Then, you are ready for flowing another liquid resin in the mold,
and waiting for this resin is dry. We use a resin from a US company,
DEVCON (don't remember the exact reference, but it was expensive).
Probably it's a good idea to use a vacuum pump to suck bubles from
resin, while drying. And finally remove the mold.

Good luck !
Guillaume


--
 Guillaume VANDERNOOT           mailto:guillaume.vandernoot@ircam.fr
 IRCAM - Room Acoustic Team     http://www.ircam.fr
 1, place Igor Stravinski       Tel : +33-(0)1-44-78-15-17
 F-75004 PARIS                  Fax : +33-(0)1-44-78-15-40