Subject: Air to bone transmission characteristics From: Neil Todd <todd(at)FS4.PSY.MAN.AC.UK> Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 20:28:45 +0000 X-Scanner:exiscan for exim4 (http://duncanthrax.net/exiscan/)Dear List As some of you will know I have been interested in the physiology and perception of loud sounds and music. I wonder if anyone could point me to some literature in relation to the transmission of sound from air to bone. I am particularly keen to find out what are the transfer characteristics of the skull. I have read somewhere that the approximate difference in HL between air and bone conducted hearing is about 40 dB. Thus with a naive kind of calculation one might expect that with perfect ear plugs (or total loss of the middle ear) that if you were standing in front of a loud rock band playing at 120 dB SPL that you would perceive this to be about 80 dB. Is this any where near the truth? Any help gratefully received. Neil Todd