Subject: Re: sound pathways through human body From: "Ferguson, Sarah Hargus" <safergus@xxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 14:56:10 -0500Some anecdotal information to help this along: A colleague of mine had a heart valve replaced a few years ago, and in a quiet setting (such as, I don't know, an audiometric test booth <g>), the casual observer can hear it "click", as can she. I forwarded this email to her and she did a few experiments. She observed that the click is louder when her ears are occluded, and refers to the occluded ear if she's occluding just one. So she must be hearing it by bone conduction as well as by air... I'll let the hearing scientists whack away at how that would occur though :). ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sarah Hargus Ferguson, Ph.D., CCC-A Assistant Professor Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders University of Kansas Dole Center 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Room 3001 Lawrence, KS 66045 office: (785)864-1116 Speech Acoustics and Perception Lab: (785)864-0610 http://www.ku.edu/~splh/Faculty/FergusonBio.html -----Original Message----- From: AUDITORY Research in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Hervé Lissek Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 9:19 AM To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx Subject: sound pathways through human body I am facing a problem of sound perception, which I cannot answer with accuracy: when a little sound source in the audible range (~1kHz) is located inside a human body, within the fat cells (for example, a buzzer fixed on a medical device) which of the acoustic pathway from the transducer to the inner ear is occurring ? The sound source is, or should be, implanted inside the abdomen, elastically fixed to the nearest bones (ie the lowest part of the spinal column, maybe even the pelvis). The question is: is sound (@xxxxxxxx 1kHz) transmitted: - through bones - through fluid (fat, air, water ...) directly to the internal ears, - through fluids, interface with air, and then external ears? If possible, could you provide me a reference list? Thanks in advance, best regards, Dr. Hervé Lissek Head of the acoustic group EPFL STI ITOP LEMA ELB 040 Station 11 CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland Tel: +41 21 693 46 30 Fax: +41 21 693 26 73 herve.lissek@xxxxxxxx