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Perception and Propagation Characteristics of Bone-Conducted Stimuli Presented to the Human Facial Cranium

Since bone conduction (BC) has the advantage that it does not cover the ear canal and can be easily heard even when earplugs are worn, it has been applied to various communication devices. Conventional BC is mainly applied to the mastoid process of the temporal bone (the osseous bulge behind the ear), however, some of recent BC devices, such as smart glasses, present stimuli to faces. The face has very complex structures in the human body; therefore, it is highly likely that the hearing and propagation characteristics of sound will change depending on the part to which sound is presented. However, the characteristics of BC presented to the face has not yet been studied in detail. In this study, we measured hearing threshold and ear canal sound pressure (ECSP) when BC stimuli were presented to various parts of the facial cranium (nasal, infraorbital region, zygomatic, jaw angle, and chin), and compared them with conventional placements of BC stimulus (the mastoid process, condyle process, and forehead). The facial parts such as the infraorbital region, zygomatic, and jaw angle had similar hearing thresholds and ECSPs to those of the mastoid process. The results suggested that these facial parts can be used as stimulus placements of BC devices.