ultrasonic hearing via bone conduction

["Maher, Rob" <rmaher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently received a query from a colleague about bone-conducted ultrasonic
hearing in humans.  I also found a prior thread from a couple years ago
about ultrasonic perception here in the AUDITORY list.  Based on the
published literature it seems clear that humans can get a hearing sensation
from ultrasonic vibrations coupled to bone.

Anyone able to share their experience working with this phenomenon?  Any
commercial hearing aids in this realm?

It is also interesting that some audio equipment manufacturers are starting
to spec their loudspeakers into the ultrasonic range based on these
findings.

Thank you,
Rob Maher


* * *

A few relevant references are:

Lenhardt, Skellett, Wang, and Clarke, A.M., "Human ultrasonic speech
perception," Science 253 (1991) 82-85

And more recently:
"Where'd you get those ultrasonic peepers?"
http://www.acoustics.org/press/150th/Lenhardt.html 

Fujimoto, Nakagawa, and Tonoike, "Nonlinear explanation for bone-conducted
ultrasonic hearing," Hearing Research 204 (2005) 210-215
http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~fff/documents/pdf/heares.pdf