The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea (한국음향학회지)

The Acoustical Society of Korea (한국음향학회)
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Effects of Hearing Protection Methods and Noise Directions on Bone-Conduction Sensitivity

청력보호구 종류와 소음 방향에 따른 골전도 민감도의 영향

  • Han, Woojae (Division of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University Research Institute of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Hallym University) ;
  • Yu, Jyaehyoung (Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Hallym University Graduate School)
  • Received : 2013.04.22
  • Accepted : 2013.07.22
  • Published : 2013.09.30
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Abstract

The present study aimed to find the most sensitive placement of the skull to perceive speech through the bone vibrator in various protection methods while being exposed to noise. Twenty young normal-hearing adults (10 male and 10 female) participated in the study. As stimulus, Korean spondee words were presented via one of five skull locations (i.e., jaw angle, condyle, temple, mastoid, and vertex), while the participants wore one of four protection methods (i.e., ear form, ear plug, ear muff, and ear form and muff together) against white noise in one of four noise directions (i.e., 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees). The results showed: 1) there was a significant difference among the five skull locations with condyle being the most sensitive placement; 2) there was a significant difference among the four protection methods, with the ear form plus ear muff condition (or dual protection) providing the lowest threshold; 3) when exposed to noise from 90 degrees, the significantly lowest threshold was found; 4) there was no significant difference in results by gender. The pattern of results suggests that the communicative condition via the condyle bone conduction and the dual protection of the air conduction under any noise direction might be ideal for preventing noise-induced hearing loss, although further studies should be undertaken in this area.

본 논문은 소음 속에서 다양한 청력보호구 착용 시 청자의 두개골 위에 골진동체 자극을 이용하여 가장 민감한 어음인지 부위를 찾고자 하였다. 20명의 정상청력의 남성과 여성(각 10명)에게 강강격의 이음절어를 사용하여 네 종류의 청력보호구 (이어폼, 이어플러그, 이어머프, 이어폼과 머프 동시 착용)와 다섯 군데의 골진동체 위치 (하악골각, 관절구, 관자놀이, 유양돌기, 정수리)를 네가지의 소음 방향(0, 90, 180, 270도)에 따라 어음인지역치검사를 시행하였다. 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 1) 골진동체의 위치 중 관절구가 가장 역치가 낮았으며, 2) 청력보호구 종류는 이어폼과 머프를 동시에 착용(이중 보호) 하였을 때 가장 역치가 낮았다. 3) 소음 방향에 따라서는 90도에서 소음이 제시되었을 때 가장 낮은 역치를 나타냈으나, 4) 실험 대상자의 성별에 따라서는 유의미한 차이가 없었다. 따라서 소음성난청을 예방하며 소음 속에서 원활한 의사소통을 위해서는 이중보호 청력보호구 착용 하에서 관절구를 통한 언어전달이 가장 효율적이다.

Keywords

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