Abstract
Cartilage conduction (CC) is a form of conduction that allows a relatively loud sound to be audible when a transducer is placed on the aural cartilage. The CC transmission mechanism has gradually been elucidated, allowing for the development of CC hearing aids (CC-HAs), which are clinically available in Japan. However, CC is still not fully understood. This review summarizes previous CC reports to facilitate its understanding. Concerning the transmission mechanism, the sound pressure level in the ear canal was found to increase when the transducer was attached to the aural cartilage, compared to an unattached condition. Further, inserting an earplug and injecting water into the ear canal shifted the CC threshold, indicating the considerable influence of cartilage–air conduction on the transmission. In CC, the aural cartilage resembles the movable plate of a vibration speaker. This unique transduction mechanism is responsible for the CC characteristics. In terms of clinical applications, CC-HAs are a good option for patients with aural atresia, despite inferior signal transmission compared to bone conduction in bony atretic ears. The advantages of CC, namely comfort, stable fixation, esthetics, and non-invasiveness, facilitate its clinical use.
Highlights
The airborne sound generated by a simulated cartilaginous portion played an important role in the reproduction of the sound pressure level in a simulated ear canal
Among the CC conditions, the results showed the same amount of threshold shifts when water was injected into the ear canal, and the fixation placement did not affect the threshold shifts by water injection
CC hearing aids (CC-hearing aids (HA)) are behind-the-ear HAs (Figure 4), with the transducer placed on the aural cartilage and the signal delivered through the cartilaginous tissue [35]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. When the transducer is placed on the aural cartilage, on the tragus, a relatively loud sound is audible [7]. The signal is predominately transmitted via the eardrum and ossicles, CC delivers the signals by vibrating a transducer, similar to the transducer is unattached to the aural cartilage. The signal is predominately transmitted via the eardrum and ossicles, CC delivers the signals by vibrating a transducer, similar to BC or non-osseous BC. Due to the unique characteristics of (aural cartilage) contributes to airborne sound generation. This hypothesis underlying the CC, acoustic devices sound utilizing. CCismay potentially provide that cannot generation of airborne in CC unique and currently not benefits fully understood. CC that we found on PubMed (search term “cartilage conduction hearing”) to facilitate its understanding
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