Abstract
Dental deficiencies coexist with hearing loss, and dental treatment can improve hearing acuity. To prove that different dentition affects the transmission of acoustic vibrations through bone conduction, we prepared six dry human skulls to reconstruct teeth and soft tissues. We measured the transmission of vibrations from the maxilla to the cochlea, in the toothless jaw (TJ), jaw with lateral defects with frame dentures (FD), toothless jaw with complete dentures (CD), and jaw with reconstructed dentition (RD). Each skull was flexibly suspended. The maxilla was stimulated with the bone vibrator Radioear B71. The vibrations of the pyramid were measured perpendicularly using the Polytec PSV-400-M2 scanning vibrometer. Characteristics of frequencies differed simultaneously on the left (l) and right (r) side of each skull. In all states (from 234 Hz to 5 kHz), we identified 10–21 resonant (R) and 9–21 antiresonant (AR) frequencies unilaterally (+/− 5%). In about 30% of cases, they were each time inconsistent with the “physiological” state-RD. In the 500 Hz–2 kHz frequency range (necessary for understanding speech), the effective vibrations velocities vRMS (mm/s) near cochlea were significantly lower in RD than in tree states, where (depending on the dentures) the least energy reached cochlea in FD and the most in TJ.
Highlights
The human body continuously stays in and is affected by the sound field
We examined six skulls in 4 states of dentition: (a) toothless jaw (TJ), graphical record—red, (b) reconstructed dentition (RD)—black (jaw with reconstructed and complete dentition, 14 teeth: four incisors, two canines, four premolars, four molars), (c) frame dentures (FD)—green, reconstructed anterior teeth and lateral defects, supplemented with frame denture, (d) complete dentures (CD)—purple, toothless with a complete denture
If a diagram of R or AR in TJ, CD, or FD did not correspond with R or AR in RD, we reported it as incompatible with RD (“R ≠ RD” and AR ≠ RD”)
Summary
The human body continuously stays in and is affected by the sound field. Generated here, acoustic vibrations are transmitted through the air, bone, and soft tissue conduction (AC, BC, and STC). The final stimulation of hearing receptor (HR) results from various complex combinations of tones added in perilymph as well constructively as destructively [1,2,3,4]. The teeth are a surprisingly active place to stimulate HR [5]. E.g., the Weber test results are not precise, it is recommended to place a tuning fork to the teeth [6,7]. Dahlin et al [9] continued the studies, and its interesting application as a wireless intraoral hearing aid was reported at the University of California. The way of passing acoustic energy from the teeth to the inner ear has not yet been precisely determined, Semczuk, in the middle of the
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