• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: Hearing can be elicited in response to vibratory stimuli delivered to fluid in the external auditory meatus. To obtain a complete audiogram in subjects with normal hearing in response to pure tone vibratory stimuli delivered to fluid applied to the external meatus. Subjects and Methods: Pure tone vibratory stimuli in the audiometric range from 0.25 to 6.0 kHz were delivered to fluid applied to the external meatus of eight participants with normal hearing (15 dB or better) using a rod attached to a standard clinical bone vibrator. The fluid thresholds obtained were compared to the air conduction (AC), bone conduction (BC; mastoid), and soft tissue conduction (STC; neck) thresholds in the same subjects. Results: Fluid stimulation thresholds were obtained at every frequency in each subject. The fluid and STC (neck) audiograms sloped down at higher frequencies, while the AC and BC audiograms were flat. It is likely that the fluid stimulation audiograms did not involve AC mechanisms or even, possibly, osseous BC mechanisms. Conclusions: The thresholds elicited in response to the fluid in the meatus likely reflect a form of STC and may result from excitation of the inner ear by the vibrations induced in the fluid. The sloping fluid audiograms may reflect transmission pathways that are less effective at higher frequencies.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 1995

This paper describes characteristics of a bone conduction telephone which was developed for conductive hearing impaired persons to call without additional devices and results of its performance test. Not only the hearing impaired but also normal hearing persons can use this telephone because we developed a bone conduction vibrator with which they can perceive speech signal using functions of air conductive hearing as well as bone conductive hearing. It also has tone control function compensating hearing losses for the hearing impaired originating from their hearing characteristics, and using this function together with received volume control it has received volume range of 20dB in loudness rating, which is similar effect as what a telephone set with built-in received amplifier has. From results of articulation and intelligibility tests for 19 hearing impaired persons, we can see that if their bone-conduction hearing loss is 61dB or less, they can understand words or sentences and response well with this telephone.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.128-137
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• 2016

In mobile communication, air conduction(AC) speech signal had been commonly used, but it was easily affected by ambient noise environment such as emergency, military action and rescue. To overcome the weakness of the AC speech signal, bone conduction(BC) speech signal have been used. The BC speech signal is transmitted through bone vibration, so it is affected less by the background noise. In this paper, we proposed noise cancellation algorithm of the BC speech signal using noise feature of decomposed bands. The proposed algorithm consist of three steps. First, the BC speech signal is divided into 17 bands using perceptual wavelet packet decomposition. Second, threshold is calculated by noise feature during short time of separated-band and compared to absolute average of the signal frame. Therefore, the speech and noise parts are detected. Last, the detected noise parts are removed and then, noise eliminated bands are re-synthesised. In order to confirm the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, we compared the proposed algorithm with conventional algorithm. And the proposed algorithm has better performance than the conventional algorithm.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1040-1048
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• 2020

In this study, in order to improve the implantable bone conduction transducer of the prototype proposed by Shin et al., the effect of the element parameters of the transducer on the frequency characteristics was analyzed using electromagnetic and mechanical vibration analysis. Electromagnetic analysis was performed on the size of the permanent magnet and the distance between the metal plate and the coil to derive an optimal structure that generates the maximum Lorentz force. In addition, mechanical vibration analysis was performed on the cantilever structure of the vibrational membrane in order to minimize the distortion of the transducer and to have a frequency characteristic suitable for conductive hearing loss compensation. The frequency characteristics of the transducer of the optimal structure derived through finite element method were compared with the simulation results of the previous transducer. As a result, the output magnitude (displacement) of the transducer designed with the optimal structure generated an average 8.8 times higher than the previous transducer, and the resonance frequency was generated at 0.9 kHz.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.265-277
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• 1991

In this study, the healing changes of the implanted bone and its surrounding tissues were examined on the histopathologic basis following implantation of the freeze - dried and radiation - sterilized allogeneic bone in Rectus abdominicus of the rat. This study was performed to see the tissue recations after implantation of the freeze - dried and radiation - sterilized allogeneic bone and whether osteogenesis or osteo - induction or osteo - conduction is happened. And the results were as follows : 1. The shape of the implanted allogeneic bone of the 1, 2 - week group specimen was similar to that of normal bone in light - microscopic finding and the atrophy of cellular organells was found in trans - mission electron - microscopic finding. 2. The implanted allogeneic bone was surrounded with the dense fibroconnective tissues, and infiltration of the chronic inflammatory cells gradually became increased. 3. Hyaline degeneration was observed in the surrounding tissue at the 3, 4, 6 - week group specimen. 4. Light - microscopically the resorption of implanted bone became prominent after 4 - week group and the necrosis of allogeneic bone implant became severe with loss of cell components in lacuna. 5. Electron - microscopically, the osteoclast - like cells ere fond after, 2 - week group. It is summarized that the osteo - conduction potential of the bone is remained just after implanting the freeze - dried and radiation - sterilized allogeneic bone on Rectus abdominicus of the rat, but gradually it disappeared with the gradual increse of chronic inflammatory reaction and osteoclastic activity. So it is suggested that the antigenicity of the freeze - dried and radiation - sterilized bone is remained and it has little osteo - conductive activity when it is implanted in the muscle.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.525-534
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• 2019

Background In microtia patients with bilateral hearing impairment, hearing improvement is crucial for language development and performance. External auditory canal reconstruction (EACR) has been performed to improve hearing, but often results in complications. We performed transcutaneous bone conduction implant (TBCI) surgery in these patients. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TBCI surgery. Methods A retrospective review was performed of five patients who underwent auricular reconstruction and TBCI surgery and 12 patients who underwent EACR between March 2007 and August 2018. Hearing improvement was measured based on the air-bone gap values using pure-tone audiometry over a 6-week postoperative period. We reviewed other studies on hearing improvement using EACR and compared the findings with our results. The surgical techniques for TBCI were reviewed through case analyses. Results Postoperative hearing outcomes showed a significant improvement, with a mean gain of 34.1 dB in the TBCI cohort and 14.1 dB in the EACR cohort. Both gains were statistically significant; however, the TBCI cohort showed much larger gains. Only three of the 12 patients who underwent EACR achieved hearing gains of more than 20 dB, which is consistent with previous studies. All patients who underwent TBCI surgery demonstrated hearing gains of more than 20 dB and experienced no device-related complications. Conclusions TBCI is a safe and effective method of promoting hearing gains in microtia patients with bilateral hearing impairment. TBCI surgery provided better hearing outcomes than EACR and could be performed along with various auricular reconstruction techniques using virgin mastoid skin.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.613-617
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• 2008

One of the important parts on multimedia era is acoustic ones. With increased demand of smallest multimedia products such as personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile phones, it is necessary to develop acoustic devices which have higher performance and smaller size. Acoustic parts with various function for hearing impaired persons. This paper introduces a bone conduction vibrator (BCV) for hearing impaired persons to use portable acoustic device without additional devices. For vibration analysis of the BCV, electromagnetic, mechanical and their coupling effects are considered for the analysis. This paper shows that the development of design and analysis technique by finite element method (FEM) of BCV.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2011

Human auditory acuity decreases naturally due to aging. But recently cases of impaired hearing at a young age are increasing greatly. The biggest reason for such an increase of population with impaired hearing is popularization of various kinds of portable multimedia appliances. Many studies on impaired hearing due to noises caused by the earphone and headphone are being made, but there are few studies on noise-impaired hearing caused directly by mobile phone communication. Based on a precedent inquiry, this study proposes a technique for preventing noise-impaired hearing applying to an active noise reduction technique onto bone conduction speaker. This technique is a method for reducing noises by antiphase oscillation through bone conduction speaker with ambient noises. If the proposed system is applied, the noise level that is actually introduced to audition decreases by more than 12 dB, and such a decreased amount of sound volume fundamentally prevents the factors of noise-caused hearing difficulty due to mobile phone communication. Sensibility test results showed that adequate communication was possible even in such a situation where communication volume was decreased like this.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2013

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.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2003

Periodontal regeneration therapy with bone-substituting materials has gained favorable clinical efficacy by enhancing osseous regeneration in periodontal bony defect. As bone-substituting materials, bone powder, calcium phosphate ceramic, modified forms of hydroxyapatite, and hard tissue replacement polymer have demonstrated their periodontal bony regenerative potency. Bone-substituting materials should fulfill several requirements such as biocompatibility, osteogenecity, malleability, biodegradability. The purpose of this study was to investigate biocompatibility, osteo-conduction capacity and biodegradability of $Na_2O$, $K_2O$ added calcium metaphosphate(CMP). Beta CMP was obtained by thermal treatment of anhydrous $Ca_2(H_2PO_4)_2$. $Na_2O$ and $K_2O$ were added to CMP. The change of weight of pure CMP, $Na_2O$-CMP, and $K_2O$-CMP in Tris-buffer solution and simulated body fluid for 30 days was measured. Twenty four Newzealand white rabbits were used in negative control, positive control(Bio-Oss), pure CMP group, 5% $Na_2$-CMP group, 10% $Na_2O$-CMP goup, and 5% $K_2O$-CMP group. In each group, graft materials were placed in right and left parietal bone defects(diameter 10mm) of rabbit. The animals were sacrificed at 3 months and 6 months after implantation of the graft materials. Degree of biodegradability of $K_2O$ or $Na_2O$ added CMP was greater than that of pure CMP in experimental condition. All experimental sites were healed with no clinical evidence of inflammatory response to all CMP implants. Histologic observations revealed that all CMP grafts were very biocompatible and osseous conductive, and that in $K_2O$-CMP or $Na_2O$-CMP implanted sites, there was biodegradable pattern, and that in site of new bone formation, there was no significant difference between all CMP group and DPBB(Bio-Oss) group. From this result, it was suggested that all experimental CMP group graft materials were able to use as an available bone substitution.